My legend of the Bionicle
by TheMightyObsidian
Summary: Basically started life as a random story on the lego message boards, but as Bioncle G2 is over I am not risking losing my story. So I'm putting it here instead. Generally it's meant to one-up G2's canon story and also tie it into a neat little bow with G1 so I can write more G1 stuff in future with this as a starting point. If it works, that is. I hope you enjoy!
1. Prologue

On the island of Okoto, home to the Matoran, was a great city: Rano Nui. Within Rano Nui was a forgery: the home and workplace for two brothers, collectively known as the mask makers. Who, as you would assume, created great Kanohi masks of power. Both brothers wore masks of their own. Ekimu wearing the Kanohi Hanga: the mask of creation, and Makuta wearing the Kanohi Mana: the mask of control.

Both brothers made masks, but Ekimu's were preferred by the Matoran. Makuta was jealous, as most brothers are, of Ekimu's great popularity. So, one night, he stole the mask of creation from Ekimu's bedside. He then tried to create a great mask of power that would be so great, so special, and so powerful, that no-one would ever doubt his abilities again! But his plan failed, and he instead accidentally created an army of mask-like creatures he called Vonahk (roughly translated to skull spider). And because Makuta had made them, who wore the mask of control, they had the natural ability to control others by latching onto the faces of anyone unfortunate enough to cross them.

But Makuta was not deterred, the next night, after hiding the Vonahk away, he tried again, this time succeeding by creating a mask capable of channeling all six of the elemental powers: Fire, Ice, Air, Water, Earth and Stone. But this broke a sacred rule that stated a mask containing more than one element was forbidden, as it was too unstable and dangerous.

The next day, he presented the mask to the Matoran, bragging of its abilities. The Matoran were not convinced. In desperation, Makuta donned the mask to prove he was right. That was the biggest mistake he'd ever made. The mask began to change him. He started to grow, soon, he was a hulking figure towering over the other Matoran. He was filled with the power of the elements, but also, filled with hate. Hate greater than anything he had ever felt before! This mask had been made out of spite, so that is what gave its user, spite greatly increased by the power of all six elements.

The Matoran cowered beneath his feet. Some flat out ran. But he didn't care, he had something else to turn his attention to. Destroying his brother! Ekimu rushed out of the forge. His eyes traveled from the fearful Matoran, to the gigantic figure standing above them, and back to the Matoran again. Then he realized what had happened. "Makuta!" He yelled up at his brother in fury, "What have you done!?" Makuta spun around to see who had addressed him. Then, seeing who it was, he laughed. "Isn't it obvious brother?" He said, his voice booming with mirth, "I've become the most powerful Matoran on Okoto!"

"No brother!" Ekimu yelled back at him, "You have broken the most sacred rule laid down by our ancestors! And you have insulted their memory by doing so!"

"Curse the old fools, and all that they once were!" Makuta said bitterly, "I am more powerful than they could have ever imagined in their lifetimes!"

"You sicken me brother," Ekimu said in disgust, "you speak foul of our ancestors and claim yourself to be above their rules? You are no brother of mine."

The rage that filled Makuta from those words was like nothing of before, beyond description. He roared with anger and charged at Ekimu, ready to obliterate any part of him he could. Ekimu leaped out of the way and Makuta crashed through the wall of the forge behind. He yelled once more in anger and pursued Ekimu. Ekimu rushed towards his mask forging hammer, reaching out to grab it. Makuta powered on after him, with no concern for anything in his way. Ekimu reached his hammer, plucked it from its stand, and swung his hammer towards Makuta's face.

The blow connected with the sound of a gunshot. Makuta staggered backwards clutching his face with his hands. His mask had been knocked off and the mask of control underneath was transforming into a hideous skull. Having the mask of Elements removed prematurely before his transformation to unbeatable giant, he was mutating into something more terrifying. Horns began to grow. His metallic flesh peeled back to reveal naked bone. "What have you done to me!?" Makuta screamed at Ekimu, his face contorted with pain.

"No," Ekimu replied, "what have you done to yourself?" Makuta punched Ekimu and he went rocketing backwards, crashing into the far wall of the forge. His head lolled to the side. He was unconscious. The Matoran who had stayed where they were, frozen with fear, now screamed and ran. "I guess the Matoran don't like the new me," Makuta said with sarcastic disappointment, "What a shame. I guess I'll have to... Persuade them." And with that: he released the Vonahk he had hidden before, sending them after the fleeing Matoran with his mask of control.

...

From nearby, a curious Tuvaki (Lord of Skull Spiders) watched the scene play out.

...

The Matoran that escaped successfully formed six villages each representing an element. The Onu-Matoran formed a village under the obsidian fields to the West, the Ko-Matoran set up on a mountain in the frozen land of the North, the Po-Matoran built theirs in the desert to the Northwest, the Ta-Matoran made their home in the volcanic land to the Southwest, the Ga-Matoran moved underwater to the East and the Le-Matoran took to the jungle to the Southeast.

...

Sometime later, Makuta was searching through the Rano Nui hall of records for an ancient relic which would help him greatly: The Staff of Tenebris. It was known for the many dark properties it possessed. The main reason he wanted it was that it had the power to steal the masks of others, but the other was that it had the power to raise the dead.

He walked through hall after hall of the grand museum, searching for the staff.

After some time, he found what he sought. It lay on top of a pedestal at the end of one of the many long corridors lined with ancient tablets written in a language long forgotten. His cold, bony fingers clasped around the staff as his raised it above his head in triumph.

...

The Tuvaki had been watching Makuta for some time and had followed him to the building which he was now re-emerging from. It skittered up to him, with curious look in its eyes. Makuta took no notice in the rahi beast, as he was examining his newly acquired weapon. "I have the staff now," He thought aloud, "but nothing to try it on... But wait." Then the thought hit him. "The graveyard!" He exclaimed, "I can test it on the dead in the graveyard!"

...

The Turaga Elders were in deliberation. It had been quite a while since those who could had fled Rano Nui, and Makuta had not yet made his next move. But they were not just going to sit idly while that madman planned his next assault. Within the temporary shelter, they had made for this meeting, they sat in a circle around the golden glow of a camp fire. "Our chances of defeating Makuta now are very slim." Vakama, the Turaga of fire said softly with his calm and wizened voice, "but there is one way to tip the odds in our favour,"

"The Toa? Vakama, if we had the chance, we would have summoned them years ago!" Croaked Whenua, the Turaga of earth, "We have searched the entire island, and we still haven't found the barrier's weak point!"

"Ah, but that is where you are wrong Whenua," Vakama countered placidly, "the latest Ta-Matoran scouting run found some very conclusive results near the border between the regions of fire and earth."

"And I assume you brought the mask of time with you," chuckled Nokama, the Turaga of water, seeing where this was going.

"Naturally," Vakama beamed, "I suppose that's settled then?" The other Turaga nod in agreement. With that, they set off for the border, to summon the Toa.

...

The Turaga had reached the weak point. The land surrounding it was much like the rest of the regions of Fire and Earth: dark and desolate. The main difference between the two of them being that the region of earth was not unspeakably hot nor stank of brimstone. Sharp rocks jutted out from the ground with malice and sudden ravines awaited those who didn't watch their step. It was a generally unwelcoming environment, not that it was really of the concern of the Turaga traversing these deadly lands: they had a job to do.

Vakama produced the mask of time from a satchel at his hip. He held the mask out in front of him, moving it around in an attempt to find the exact point. He soon found it, the matter of the area of weakness contorting. He pressed the mask forward, giving as much force as he was prepared to into it. The anomaly gave way, and reality itself was punctured. Vakama almost stumbled forward from his momentum, but managed to regain his balance.

Discharges of dimensional energy shot out from the hole, stabbing outwards in all directions. Vakama yelled into the hole, trying to get the attention of anyone on the other side. "Help! Send the Toa, send anyone you can, just help us!"

...

From far off, Makuta could see the bright lights of the strange energy illuminating the sky like fireworks. Almost instantly, he knew what it meant. The Turaga had punctured the barrier! He had to do something. He looked around him, searching for something that could help him. Then his eyes fell upon the Tuvaki that had followed him to the graveyard. The mouth behind his skull mask smiled evilly.

...

Before much more could be said, the hole closed itself up, healing the anomaly. "And now we must hope that help is on the way," Vakama said. The Tuvaki crept up on them, its mind influenced by Makuta's mask. The Turaga took no notice of the rahi creature, lost in their thoughts. The Tuvaki opened its mouth and spat at the Turaga. The Turaga suddenly realized they were being attacked, but it was too late. All six of the Turaga were covered in a tough and stringy web. They struggled helplessly as the Tuvaki dragged them away.

...

In the sky, six metallic spheres one could liken to comets could be seen raining down upon Okoto. Each contained a Toa within, put into a sort of sleep, and as a side-effect of this they had no idea who they were or what they were here for. Ko-matoran star gazers looked on in alarm as the six spheres simultaneously smashed into the islands surface.

...

Meanwhile, Makuta had raised a small group of undead from the graveyard. They looked around, uncertain of what they were seeing was real or not. They had been dead, their life stripped from them years ago. At first, they assumed they were dreaming, but if they were dreaming, how could they be dead? "Welcome back to the world my undead minions!" Makuta boomed with a renewed sense of triumph in his voice.

"I am the minion of no-one!" Boomed the Minotaur-like Surdus (Skull Basher), who had been very popular in the Rano Nui arena in his time.

"Neither am I!" Added Lacero (Skull Slicer), another popular gladiator during his time of living. Makuta groaned, this was turning out to be more difficult than expected.

"I am loyal only to the captain of the Rano Nui guard!" Announced another of the skeletons stood before Makuta, who had obviously in his time been a part of the Rano Nui guard that had patrolled the streets, keeping crime to a minimum. "And my trusted steed here is loyal only to me," He continued, pointing to the Kopiona (Skull Scorpio) beside him which had probably been his pet. Makuta facepalmed and groaned again saying: "I hope that my little friend is faring better than me."

And indeed, it was. The Tuvaki appeared over the horizon, pulling the six Turaga behind it. Eventually reaching Makuta and the unyielding skeletons. "Look what the rahi dragged in," Makuta said, his confident smirk back on his face, "Vakama, Nokama, Matau, Onewa, Nuju AND Whenua! At least someone is loyal to me." The other skeletons gaped in surprise, words failing them. Makuta laughed evilly. "So," He boomed with delight, "how about your undying loyalty to me, your one and only master?"

"You have my swords," said Lacero.

"You have my bow," said the guardsman.

"And my axes!" Added Surdus.

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Makuta said with obvious glee.

Then, using his telepathic power to control, ordered the Tuvaki to ungag the Turaga. The Tuvaki busily skittered around, unbinding the mouths of the Turaga. With the freedom to speak once more, Turaga Vakama spat: "Makuta! Release us at once!"

"Makuta?" Makuta asked sarcastically, "I am Makuta the mask maker no longer, I am Kulta: the mask stealer!" And with that, he held up his staff, calling upon its power.

The masks of the Turaga, as though affected by a magnetic pull, tore off of their faces and onto the staff of Tenebris. The newly christened Kulta laughed, an evil, cold, laugh. He removed the masks from his staff and placed them onto his face.

Kulta tested out each of the powers in turn, invisibility, then telekinesis, then night vision, then gravity (I'm replacing Onewa's mask with a mask worn by another being of earth because Makuta already has the mask of control.), then translation to read the inscription on the staff which was this: "We fight. We win. We take." and he then used the mask of illusions to make himself appear in three places at once. Once he deactivated the mask power, the two extra illusion clones fizzled away into nothing.

"So," Kulta boomed with satisfaction, "Feeling a little drained Vakama? You look very pale," He laughed manically. But Vakama was not listening, he was trying to free himself from his bonds. Kulta cleared his throat to get the attention of the skeletons, "Take out the trash, will you? They're starting to bore me," he said.

As he was dragged away by the skeletons, Vakama said: "You won't get away with this!"

"Oh?" Kulta countered, "I believe I already have, Vakama. Even if the Toa do find their golden Kanohi, which they won't by the way, they will be unable to stop me with all of the power I now possess thanks to you!" From far of, Vakama yelled something to Kulta which he couldn't hear from the distance. He didn't try to discover what Vakama had said as he didn't really care. He had more important matters to attend to.

...

He returned to the Rano Nui hall of hall of records to find one more important item, or in this case: person. After travelling through the fancily decorated corridors again, he found what was searching for. What stood before him was a black rectangular case stood up so its longer edges stretched up to the ceiling, about three quarters up the out-of-place structure was a little window from which a grotesque face could be seen frozen in ice.

That face belonged to none other than Krekka; the powerful (Albeit stupid) and feared dark hunter who had been locked away many years ago. Next to the coffin-like case was a panel with a few buttons and a dial. Kulta twiddled around with the controls for a little bit and soon; Krekka's case was starting to thaw.

After a few seconds, the door opened, steam escaped and Krekka stepped out. He wasn't a day older than he had been when he was placed in there in the first place. He had been in a perfect state of suspended animation. Kulta was pleased with the result he had ended up with. "I welcome you back to the world Krekka!" He said, smiling broadly.

"Wha-what happened?" Krekka said scratching his head, "they put me in that box... Then I went cold. Now I'm here."

"Yes Krekka, they put you in suspended animation," Kulta said slowly, hoping Krekka would understand.

"Sus, suspe, sus... Uhh," Krekka scratched his head again, who obviously had not understood, "What?"

Kulta sighed and said slowly, emphasizing every syllable, "It's when you get fro-zen, and then you can be a-live lon-ger!"

"Oh!" Krekka said, finally getting it, "why didn't you just say so?"

Kulta facepalmed for the second time that day. Then he said; "Just come with me!"

...

"So, I need you to be here in case my plan fails," Kulta finished, "you got all that?"

"Yeah... I think," Krekka said slowly, "Wait... Can you say that first bit again?"

"Oh, for the love of! Ugh," Kulta groaned and decided a simpler approach was necessary. "Just stand here," He said, pointing to the ground under the archway leading to the prison he had made to hold Ekimu and the Turaga, "and if you see any colourful people with weapons coming toward you: END THEM! Is that enough to get through your thick skull!?"

"Okay," Said Krekka, "I'll try!"

Now Kulta could finally turn his attention to the minions who actually had some kind of brain left in them. He rubbed his hands together, a malicious grin on his face. "Time to get to work!" He boomed…


	2. The Arrival

Lewa shook his head. He couldn't remember anything before being inside the capsule he now resided in. There wasn't any kind of window, but he was pretty sure that he had just fallen from the sky and crashed into the ground. Due to the feeling of movement and the sound of a large explosion around him with the force of the hit smashing him into the "ceiling" of the spherical object he was inside. He was now trying to find a way out, soon enough he found one and stepped out onto a sandy yellow beach.

It was the dead of night. Waves lapped at the sand and the smell of salty sea air was wafted to Lewa, carried to him by the cool night-time breeze. Once again, he racked his brains for something, ANYTHING that could help him understand who he was (beyond his name) and why he was here. All he got was an assault of images that he could barely make out. But something about this situation seemed familiar somehow, and he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

He examined himself under the light of a waxing moon. Examined his strong limbs and powerful looking axes with swords on the ends, why did he have these? He had no idea. He removed his mask from his face and looked at it. As the mask left his face, a great amount of strength was suddenly sucked away from him, like uncorking a bottle full of hot air.

The mask was a bright green, much like the rest of him. It had a streamlined design and sported a cocky grin which Lewa found himself to like. Its empty eye-holes stared up at him, Lewa decided this was kind of creepy and put his mask back on. The power he had felt leave him when he removed his mask returned to him as he donned it again.

"Are we done checking ourselves out?" A voice Lewa did not recognize questioned. Lewa turned to the spot where he thought he had heard the voice and noticed a thick, lush jungle with a dense tree canopy. He soon found the source of the noise, a light green figure with a strange weapon strapped to his arm. The stranger continued his remark by saying: "Or am I going to have to wait here all night?" He squatted on a low hanging tree-branch quite close to where Lewa was standing. "Who are you?" Lewa asked, he thought it to be the best place to start. "My name is not important," the stranger replied.

With that, he nimbly leaped down from the branch and landed right in front of Lewa. "But you have far more important questions than that. Don't you, Lewa?" How did this person know his name? Lewa wasn't sure. But it made him uneasy. "Well, yes. But how do you know my name? Do you have the answers I'm looking for?"

"That's a long story," The stranger said quickly, "and yes, I do."

Lewa decided he was at least somewhat trustworthy and asked a question he had been dying to know for some time: "Who am I?"

"You are Lewa, the Toa of air. One of six to appear on this island," the stranger replied, "the others are Gali; Toa of water, Pohatu; Toa of stone, Onua; Toa of earth, Kopaka; Toa of ice and Tahu; Toa of fire. You are destined to help us in our time of need; we are being overrun by rahi controlled by the evil Kulta."

For some reason that Lewa couldn't understand, what this stranger said to him felt right, it seemed to fit somehow. And he understood exactly what he meant. "So how do I stop him?" Lewa asked.

"First," The stranger said, "you will not do this alone. You and the other five Toa must unite if you ever hope to defeat Kulta. Second, you will have to find your golden Kanohi mask of power. It will increase your powers tenfold and-"

"What powers?" Lewa cut in.

"You are a Toa," the stranger said, "a Toa has control over an element, in your case; air. When you acquire your golden mask of power, you will have these powers increased to the level that you have total control over the wind."

"Nice!" Lewa said with a smirk, "when do we start?"

"Now," the stranger replied. With that, he motioned to Lewa to follow him, and advanced into the dense foliage.

...

Pohatu had wandered for miles in every direction of the boiling hot stretch of land set out before him, and it was getting him nowhere. He had landed in a particularly violent fashion while sitting inside a small round metallic pod. When he had stepped out of said pod, he had been presented with a large amount of sand and little of anything else.

Sure, there were are few tough watertight plants here and there, and a fair number of boulders and similar structures of that nature, and maybe even a couple of Rahi. But in the end, the majority was sand. It had been night when he'd landed, but his aimless wandering had left the sun time to rise and bring down its fury upon him.

He trudged on through the crusty yellow grains in search of any form of civilisation. The sun's rays beat down on him. All the while and Pohatu started to wonder if ANYONE would be crazy enough to live out here. Then, Pohatu stopped. Something had caught his eye. He turned back round to the spot he had seen this object of interest.

Then he saw it, the most curious thing. Out in the middle of nowhere, was a path! A clearly marked and unmistakable path! It even had signs of stone further up ahead where the path forked and snaked off in two different directions. Pohatu did not decide to question his stroke of luck and headed down the path to what he hoped to be civilisation.

When he reached the fork, he discovered a small figure he had not noticed before. The figure in question was much smaller than Pohatu and wore bright orange armour and a matching mask. He (or at least Pohatu assumed the figure was male) was carving the rest of the message onto one of the stone signs. He took no notice of Pohatu until he cleared his throat to get the stranger's attention.

He paused his carving to look up at Pohatu. He barely batted an eye at the sight of him and sat there, staring at him in complete silence. Pohatu decided to break the ice with: "Uhh... hi,"

"Greetings," the figure replied, his voice about as dull as his expression, "you must be Pohatu; Toa of stone,"

"Toa?" Pohatu asked.

"Great, no memory. Sounds like the perfect guy for the job," the figured muttered to himself sarcastically.

"Excuse me, what job?" Pohatu inquired.

"Okay," The figure sighed, "I am Hatana, I am a Matoran on this island from the region of stone; the desert we are in right now. I'll bring you up to speed:

Two brothers, called Ekimu and Makuta, were mask-makers for the island. Makuta was jealous of Ekimu because of how much more adored he was compared to Makuta. Makuta decided to break a sacred law, not to empower a mask with more than one element, and create a mask fused with the combined powers of all six elements: fire, ice, water, earth, air and stone. He put on this mask, fought Ekimu, got it knocked off, became a skeleton, knocked Ekimu unconscious, let loose hordes of Rahi, Skeleton warriors and "Vonahk", renamed himself Kulta and kidnapped our village Turaga. They're village elders of sorts. But not before they summoned you and five others to save us from Kulta and his evil forces!"

"Ooookay," Pohatu said slowly, "that's a lot to take in. Anything else I ought to know?"

"There is one more thing," Hatana replied, "you are currently not at full strength, to get to full strength you need to find a golden Kanohi mask hidden somewhere in this desert."

"Great, a treasure hunt, that'll be fun," Pohatu groaned, "so where do we start?"

"We should probably start by taking you to the village, once I'm done carving I'll take you back with me and introduce you to the villagers,"

"Great!" Pohatu said excitedly. He waited for a few minutes for Hatana to finish carving, and then they set off down the path.

As they trudged on through the desert, no conversation was made. Most of the journey was made in silence until the two travellers were attacked by a swarm of "Vonahk". The creatures surrounded Pohatu and Hatana, baring their teeth and swishing their tails from side to side, poised to strike. "Stinger tails? What kind of spiders are they!?" Pohatu asked exasperatedly.

"The kind you don't want to mess with," Hatana replied gruffly.

"What are they for anyway? The tails I mean." Pohatu questioned.

"Well," Hatana began as he warded one of the creatures off with a well-aimed kick, "they can cover themselves with it to create an impenetrable force field, and they make a rather nasty sting,"

"Oh," Pohatu said, rather surprised with the answer (apart from the stinging bit).

"But that isn't even the worst part," Hatana continued while shaking off a couple that had started their way up his legs, "whatever you do, don't let them get to your face. They'll tear off your mask and take its place, placing you under Kulta's control."

"Oh, marvellous!" Pohatu said sarcastically while stepping on a couple of the little beasts as they approached.

"Maybe you could stop us becoming victims of that scenario by using your elemental powers!" Hatana yelled at him as he desperately tried to get the swarming mass of creatures away from him.

"Right!" Pohatu yelled back, being in a similar predicament himself, "and how exactly, would I do that? I do remember nothing more than what you have told me remember?"

"I don't know!" Hatana yelled back, practically covered in a mountain of them now, "all I know is that you control the element of stone, and if you focus, you can unlock that power from within!"

"Okay!" Pohatu yelled back.

He closed his eyes and focused not on the spiders all around, but on the sand beneath his feet, the boulders and twisting shapes of rock that surrounded him. He began to feel a strange energy build up inside. He focused on it, built on it and channelled through the ground beneath.

The ground shook violently as an earthquake tore through the desert, sending the Vonahk flying. Hatana brushed himself off and came to Pohatu, clapping. "Well done, well done!" He exclaimed, "you know, it's a shame that I can't let you go any further..."

"Wait, what!?" Pohatu yelped in surprise.

"Maybe this will answer your questions," Hatana grinned. His form began to change, his legs disappearing into a long, thick tail. Pohatu looked on in horror as a twisting, snapping, clearly painful transformation took place. "Oh, now I see why you hide behind that matoran disguise! Your normal form looks plain ugly!" Pohatu grinned.

"Silence worm!" Hatana bellowed.

"Well you're a fine one to tal-"

"I will not suffer this mockery any longer!" Hatana screeched, cutting off Pohatu's witty remark, "now you will feel my wrath!" Without another word, Hatana lunged at Pohatu. Pohatu dodged out of the way of the odd, snake-like rahi that had just been yelling at him.

Hatana turned to him, now becoming very annoyed. He lunged again, his over-sized fists outstretched hungrily. Pohatu leapt back from this attack and kicked Hatana away. Hatana tumbled backwards while Pohatu landed smoothly on the sand a short distance away. Now it was Pohatu's turn to charge, zooming at Hatana with a great burst of speed. Hatana batted him away. Then the two both charged, slamming into each-other with an audible clang. The two wrestled furiously, kicking up dust as they did so.

After a little of this, Hatana was launched away, with Pohatu following on foot. The two were headed right for the village. When Hatana came down, Pohatu kicked him right back up again. This time he was left to plunge into the ground. Hatana got up, barely. Even still, he laughed; a cold, cruel laugh. "You have no idea what you've done!" He screamed insanely. Vonahk started to swarm in from every direction. "This'll be interesting," was all that Pohatu could comment.

Pohatu drew two boomerang-like weapons from his back and made his move; launching into the air and flinging the weapons in either direction. As they went, they whipped up mighty tornadoes that sucked up the Vonahk and lobbed them to who-knows where. Pohatu landed and aimed a final kick at Hatana. It connected, sending the wretched creature crashing into a statue stood outside the gates, which promptly exploded from the force. Hatana lay in the rubble, unconscious.

The two boomerangs returned to Pohatu's hands, who had now had deactivated their destructive power. He wasn't sure how he knew how to use them, he just did. He returned them to their place on his back and decided to complete his quest, making his way into the village through the newly made entrance in the form of a hole in the wall. By this point many matoran had gathered and were whispering among themselves while pointing at Pohatu. They were soon silenced by the approach of another matoran holding a large blaster. He bowed before the Toa and said: "Greetings, mighty Toa. I am Nilkuu, the protector of this village,"

"Nice to meet you," Pohatu said warmly, extending his hand in a way of friendship. Nilkuu promptly took up on his offer and shook it, with the matoran surrounding them cheering. "I thank you for saving us, although I think the collateral damage could have been avoided," the protector continued.

"Sorry," Pohatu said sheepishly, "still getting used to my own strength!"

"What do you mean?" the protector asked, confused.

"Oh right, you don't know either," Pohatu sighed, "how to put this... I don't remember anything."

Everyone gasped in astonishment. "Oh dear," Nilkuu moaned, "I don't suppose you know the location of the Golden mask you're supposed to collect either?"

"Nope," Pohatu said flatly, "not a clue."

"Well this complicates things," the protector sighed, "alright, follow me."

And so Nilkuu began to lead Pohatu on his quest to find his Golden mask. It would not be an easy task.

...

Kopaka slowly trudged through the snow, a blizzard whipping up around him. His feet dug into the tiny white grains, fighting against the force of the wind. Kopaka took a little time to reflect on the fact that he knew nothing about who or where he was other than his name. Not much though, he had to focus on not being blown to oblivion.

Kopaka started to notice that the snow being thrown at him from all directions responded to his movement. He decided to take advantage of this and created a plow shape with his hands to part the snow in front of him as he soldiered on. There was a little cave that he could just make out a short distance away.

Good, shelter. Once I'm inside I can plan my next move, he thought. He made his way towards the hollow in the sheer wall of a mountain with a renewed sense of purpose. He finally got to the cave and found:

1\. It was larger than it first appeared.

2\. It gave little to no protection against the snow being hurled around outside.

He decided not to get frustrated at this setback and instead figure out a solution. There was no use getting annoyed about it, that wouldn't get anything done.

After a little bit of experimentation, Kopaka managed to create an ice wall with a little slit at the top to provide light and air. Now that the howling noise of the wind was quietened, Kopaka was able to properly think again. He decided to wait until the snow died down and set out later in search of civilisation.

Kopaka must have dosed off, because the light coming from the slit between the ice wall and the top of the cave-mouth was much brighter in comparison to when he last checked. He cursed himself for being so careless, leaving himself open to attack like that. At least the storm had cleared. Time to get to work.

He cleared the ice wall away with a casual wave of his hand, melting back to leave no trace of it ever existing. He made sure to cover his tracks every now and then as he made his way out into the unknown.

Kopaka had spent many hours striding through the snow as he searched for a town, a village, anything that could inform him of what was going on and who he was. So far, his search had been fruitless, the only thing of note that he'd found was a large abandoned temple carved from ice and snow that was adorned with statues and markings that looked a lot like him... No, it was only a coincidence, he'd told himself. But was it? Was he perhaps some kind of deity here? He brushed off these thoughts, as no matter how good they sounded, they would not help him now.

He carried onward, passing through valleys and over mountains. He discovered that his shield was capable of becoming skis, making quick work of later obstacles in the nature of mountains and valleys. His journey finally had something note-worthy when he saw a small group of houses in the distance that made up a village outpost. The sight was good to see after so much nothing, Kopaka almost cracked a smile, _almost_.

Kopaka was about to head over to it when a large creature made itself known out of nowhere. It lunged at Kopaka with a great ferocity. Kopaka dodged sideways just in time. The creature lunged again, but Kopaka was ready. The creature was simply knocked aside by Kopaka's spear. The creature gets up again. This thing is relentless, Kopaka thought, I'll have to find a way to make it stay down.

The creature makes its attack, Kopaka knocks it away with his shield. As the creature coils up to lunge at Kopaka again, Kopaka freezes its' feet to the ground. The creature lets out a sonic scream in response. Kopaka drops his weapons and falls to his knees, covering his ears with his hands.

The creature wrenches itself free of its icy prison and for a moment it seems that Kopaka is finished. But then the creature was frozen solid by a volley of ice bolts from the weapon of Izotor, the protector of ice.

...

Tahu dodged another attack from the creature that was attacking him. Shortly after leaving his crash site, Tahu had encountered the creature which even now was throwing an onslaught of blows at him. He responded to the creature's efforts by drawing his dual blades and using them to attack back.

This thing was fast, but Tahu was faster. He almost seemed to anticipate its next move. One of his swords made contact with the creature and it turned tail, whimpering as it went. Tahu watched it run with a frown. that thing had fled a little too soon for his liking.

Then he realized that his swords had begun to glow red hot. He stared at this phenomenon with utter astonishment and confusion. His train of thought was broken by a far-off shout: "Who goes there?"

"Tahu," Tahu responded.

"The Toa of legend? You've arrived!" The stranger responded with relief.

"Yes," Tahu said half-heartedly, "I have come to bring good... And prosperity!"

"How am I to know that you aren't another pretender, you seem unsure of yourself," The stranger asked suspiciously.

"I am not a pretender, but I have... How do I put this... Lost my memory?" Tahu finished sheepishly.

"You've what!?" The stranger asked incredulously.

"I've lost my memory," Tahu repeated, more definitely this time.

The stranger had revealed himself to be much smaller than Tahu and being clad in red, silver and orange-yellow coloured armour, wearing a mask that looks a lot like Tahu's actually.

"Then how do you know your name?" The matoran asked, his suspicion continuing to grow.

"It's the only thing I remember," Tahu said.

"Right, that's it!" The matoran said angrily, unsheathing a knife and lunging at Tahu.

Tahu yelped and knocked the little creature away with his fist, not wishing to harm him as Tahu believed this to be some kind of misunderstanding.

"Enough!" Another small red, silver and orange clad masked matoran blocked the way between the two. "There is no need for you to fight, for you are on the same side!"

"But father!" the smaller one protested, "he's so clearly another pretender, another of Kulta's shapeshifters sent to trick us!"

"Think for a moment Jaller!" the father replied, "why would he bother to send another if we already expect it of him?" From behind his mask, Jaller opened his mouth to reply, but then thought better of it and shut it again. "I suppose you're right," Jaller conceded sheepishly, "many apologies Toa Tahu, you can never be too careful in times like these."

"Not a problem," Tahu beamed, contented by the fact that the misunderstanding had been resolved.

"Now that that has been resolved, I'd like to introduce myself: I am Narmoto, the protector of the village of fire." Narmoto said.

"Excuse me Narmoto, this may seem a little odd to ask but... Who am I?" Tahu asked hopefully.

"Oh, well you're Tahu, the Toa of fire, destined to defeat evil. Should you not already know this?" Narmoto replied, slightly taken aback by this question.

"But what is a Toa?" Tahu asked.

"A Toa is the master of an element, meaning they have full control of it once it's unlocked. For example, your element is fire, which means you can heat things, cause volcanoes to erupt and more. You have a lot to learn I see." Narmoto said, "anyway. We need to get to business. To unlock the full potential of your powers you must collect your golden Kanohi mask. As I need to head elsewhere for an important mission, Jaller will be guiding you there in my place."

"Well then!" Tahu said, "let's get started!"

"Yes, let's," Jaller said.

...

Lewa and his mysterious guide had been travelling through the jungle for a while now, and Lewa was getting a little bored. Aside from a couple of isolated skull spider attacks, there hadn't really been much action on this trip. And despite Lewa's efforts to break the ice and start a conversation, there hadn't been much talk either.

"How much further?" Lewa asked.

"It's just beyond these trees," the stranger said, gesturing to the trees ahead of them. Lewa was glad to hear that they were almost there, but he wasn't allowed any time to celebrate as their way was blocked by a bird-like rahi that was about as tall as Lewa, himself. "Uhh, what's that?" Lewa asked.

"That's a Muna bird, the matoran of the village sometimes use them as mounts," the stranger replied.

"Well it doesn't look like it's here to give us a ride to the village!" Lewa said.

"No, it doesn't, it looks like it's here to attack us! It's under Kulta's control!" the stranger exclaimed.

The Muna lunged at the pair with its beak outstretched, ready to attack. The two dived out of the way in opposite directions. Lewa's guide started firing at the Muna with his weapon. "Run to the village Lewa, get help!" He yelled.

"I'm not just going to leave you here!" Lewa replied, "I'll help you myself!" And with that, Lewa armed himself with his own two weapons and joined the fight.

The Muna bird was having trouble now, having to fight two people at once. Lewa was holding his own very well, the motions of battle coming naturally to him like instinct.

After a little more of this the Muna decided it had had enough and flew away with a loud squawk. "Look at it go!" Lewa laughed, "it didn't know what hit it. We make a pretty good team you kno-" Lewa looked around and saw that no-one was there. "Hello?" he called out. That was strange, his companion had just… _disappeared_. And Lewa hadn't even learnt his name! "He was there, and then he's gone. Like some kind of phantom! Like - _Phantoka_ …" The word sounded familiar to Lewa, and he didn't have a clue why. He decided it to be a fitting name for the mysterious stranger, should he ever return. Then he remembered what he'd come here for and trudged off towards the village.

...

Onua's claws shovelled away at the dirt and stones to create a long, straight, tunnel. Onua had little worry about his lack of memory. He did want to find answers of course, but it didn't hurt to be patient. And in the meantime, why fret about that which he cannot control? This philosophy had put him at ease.

Onua had a hunch that he might find the answers he sought underground. He had no clue why, but it was all he had to go on, so he went with it. Even then, here he felt safe, surrounded by dirt and darkness.

His digging soon brought him to an expansive underground cavern. Stalagmites rose up from the ground and some even joined with neighbouring stalactites drooping down from the ceiling. Before he could marvel at this hidden world wonder, Onua's eyes were drawn to a small and odd-looking creature only a few feet away.

Its head, which bore four camera-like eyes, was placed somewhat haphazardly on a single leg that ended with a three-toed foot, which was about the same size as the head, if not larger. This gave off a highly comical and somewhat endearing appearance.

The odd little creature looked up at Onua, its head slightly tilted to one side in an inquisitive manner. Onua cleared his throat; "Hello there, little one," The creature said nothing, but appeared to accept the greeting. It hopped up and down on the spot a little, and then bounded down further into the cavern. Onua followed it, he got the feeling that it was trying to lead him somewhere.

So, they traveled through many tunnels and caverns, Onua confident in believing that the creature was trying to lead him somewhere. Eventually, the creature stopped and began to shake a little. Onua was slightly concerned by this change in behaviour. "Are you alright, little one?" He asked cautiously.

Then he turned the corner and discovered what had spooked the poor little thing. There, towering above it, was a dark colored rahi. With strong looking jaws, powerful muscles and a sharp tail. The creature let out a terrifying roar and lunged at Onua.

It grabbed onto Onua and began to snap at him. Onua managed to throw it off. The creature landed on the floor in a heap. By this point the tiny rahi had come to its senses and hidden behind Onua's right leg. The horrible creature had gotten to its feet.

It charged towards Onua. Onua's right fist shot out in front of him, his shovel claw connecting with the beast's jaw. It recoiled in pain and lashed out violently with its tail. The spike whipped across Onua's chest, making a nasty scratch. Onua clutched at his chest, grunting at the pain.

Onua head-butted the creature and rammed it into the wall. The two wrestled to the floor with Onua coming out on top. The creature promptly fled. Onua fell to his knees and panted for a moment, the conflict had fatigued him both physically and mentally. The little rahi had come over to him, it was making a strange clicking noise that Onua took as concern.

"Do not worry little one," Onua said, "I'm quite alright." Onua got to his feet. "I really need to give you a name, don't I?" Onua said, "I shall call you... Hop." It wasn't the most imaginative name for certain, but it got the job done, and the newly-named Hop seemed to like it.

Hop continued to lead the way, and after not that long at all, Onua was introduced to the underground wonder of the village of earth. Small spherical huts made of rock and illuminated by lightstones dotted the underground village. Many Matoran made their way across paths that connected these huts together. There were some tunnel entrances around as well, tunnel entrances to mines for a number of materials such as protodermis and lightstones.

But in all this hustle and bustle, one thing caught Onua's eye. It was indisputably the largest hut of them all, Onua headed towards it with Hop still in tow. Inside sat another of the Matoran, this one being armed unlike most of the others. At the sight of Onua she gasped. "I hope I'm not intruding," Onua said politely.

"Not at all, Toa Onua, please make yourself comfortable." She replied.

"May I ask, what is your name?" Onua inquired.

"I am Korgot, I am the protector of this village. Is there something you need of me?" She answered.

"Yes, actually," Onua began, "Who am I?"

...

Gali swam elegantly through the water, as smooth and fluidly as a fish. The water encased her body completely, aside from her mask, which allowed her to breathe beneath the waves. She was not sure how, but she was willing to accept it if it meant she could stay in the water, and not worry about leaving it for air.

She could not imagine a more wonderful place than here, in the crystal-clear water among the many bright and colourful fish. It was like a perfect dream that she never wanted to wake up from. But suddenly, that dream was shattered by a single creature that resembled what we would think as a some kind of cross between a seal and a terrapin.

Something wasn't right with this rahi, Gali knew that for certain. Something about its eyes, the cold cruelness of those eyes, it stank of evil. The fish knew it too, they were swimming away from this thing as fast as they could manage, not looking back. Gali prepared herself to fight this beast off.

...

"So, this little rahi brought you here?" Korgot asked in astonishment.

"Yes, it did, I'm not sure how or why but it knew who I was before I did, and it brought me here." Onua replied.

"Incredible, I've never seen such intelligence in a rahi before!" Korgot said in an audible whisper.

"Yes, it is curious, isn't it?" Onua agreed.

"So, back to the subject of finding your great Kanohi mask," Korgot began.

...

This thing was as agile as Gali in the water, and it had caught her off guard. She was struggling to deal with it and regretted underestimating it. The creature snapped at her again and again, Gali sometimes dodging it only by a hair's breadth.

Gali made her move, stabbing at the creature with her spear-like weapon. The creature simply latched its jaws around it and wrenched it from Gali's grip. Gali was now unarmed, but definitely not helpless.

She aimed a kick at the creature, the flipper-like tool at the base of her foot cutting through the water to make acquaintance with the thing's face. It connected, the creature releasing a loud noise that changed to flurry of bubbles in response. Gali was a little uncomfortable in causing it pain, despite its unnatural state, and was relieved when it decided that it had had enough and swam away: defeated.

Gali swam on, enjoying the indescribable bliss of the ocean once more. This continued for some time until she came across a village built underwater, with strange walls that looked like force fields of some kind surrounding the buildings and reaching all the way up to the water's surface to bring air. It was a curious place, and Gali decided to investigate further.

The village was filled with little people known as matoran, all clad in blue armour like Gali. She discovered from some quick conversations that she was a Toa, one of six who were prophesied to save the island from evil. She found this to be a little vague but decided not to question it. After a few points in the right direction she found Kivoda, the protector of the village.

Kivoda explained more about her destiny that you readers already know about. So, they agreed to go after the golden great Kanohi mask together, with Kivoda guiding the way. The same thing is going on with Onua and Korgot deep in the depths of the island as well.

Meanwhile Kopaka has also come to this agreement with Izotor, despite Kopaka's initial protests against this. And of course, Lewa has as well with Vizuna, the protector of the village in the Jungle. So, the Toa and the protectors of the respective villages (or in Tahu's case, Jaller) set out to find the golden Kanohi masks. So, it begins, the search for the masks…


	3. The Search For The Masks

Tahu and Jaller powered forwards, despite the heat, their footprints left behind in the thin blanket of ash that one could liken to black snow. They stopped, a river of lava blocking their path. "So how do we get across?" Tahu asked.

"Like this," Jaller said as he took a fair run-up and leapt across the obstacle.

"Right," Tahu said doing the same, albeit with a bit of a wobbly landing.

"Not bad," Jaller said, genuinely impressed. _At least he didn't slip,_ he thought. "But there'll be worse than that to come," he finished. The pair continued walking. "You know, you keep saying that," Tahu began, "it won't be long before I begin to doubt you."

"Well then I'll be the one to laugh when you're proven wrong," Jaller retorted confidently. It turned out that Jaller didn't need to wait long, as just then the two were surrounded by Vonahk and two rahi that looked pretty tough. However, Jaller didn't get the chance to say "I told you so!" as he was a little busy being attacked. Vonahk weren't the problem, the rahi that had turned its attention on him was. It hissed and charged towards him, its two front legs outstretched. Fortunately, Tahu was there to parry the beast's assault and prevent Jaller from being skewered.

The other made its move. Jaller leapt onto its back. The rahi bucked wildly, trying to shake him off. Jaller held on. Meanwhile Tahu continued to attack the first rahi. He tried the little sword heating trick from before, it didn't work. "This is going to be interesting," Tahu thought aloud. Swing left sword, parried. Swing right sword, missed. Tahu gritted his teeth behind his mask. Jaller was beginning to tire now, but so was the rahi. Just a little longer. Jaller's body screamed at him to let go, Jaller obliged. Oh great, Tahu thought. The other slightly worn out rahi shambled towards Tahu, a hungry look in its eyes. Tahu got an idea.

Tahu ran away from his rahi towards the other, vaulting over it. They screeched in outrage and lumbered after him. As he ran, Tahu joined his swords together to form his lava board. As Tahu passed him, he scooped up Jaller with his free arm. When he reached the lava flow, he leapt upwards and brought the board under him, landing perfectly on the lava. He sped across the surface with ease, soon leaving the two rahi behind. "Tahu! What are you doing? We're going the wrong way!" Jaller exclaimed.

"Your welcome," Tahu grumbled. He used his power over fire to rise the lava under him slightly to send him into the air. Tucking the board under his arm once more, he landed on solid ground and released Jaller from his grip. "Better?" He asked irritably.

"Yes," Jaller replied. The two carried on in the direction they were headed, despite being a little lower down than before. "So, are the other Toa being guided by their element's protectors?" Tahu asked, breaking the bitter silence between them.

"I would assume so," Jaller replied.

"If so, then aren't they basically abandoning their villages to the Vonahk and mind controlled rahi?" Tahu continued.

"Do you really think that the protectors are the only ones with weapons in the villages?" Jaller scoffed.

"Well that's what it looked like to me," Tahu said uncertainly.

"Just because you didn't see them doesn't mean they aren't there. And besides, helping the Toa get their masks would be in the best interests of their respective villages." Jaller responded.

"And what of your father's important mission?" Tahu enquired.

"He... Didn't tell me anything about it," Jaller admitted.

…

Narmoto crept along, careful not to make a sound as he was surrounded by Vonahk. He'd travelled to the nest of the Vonahk, and their newly appointed lord, to find out what had given their "lord" the ability to corral them. It had turned out to be a mask created by Kulta. The mask resembled a golden Vonahk without legs.

Kulta's power only stretches so thin, and by having the lord of the Vonahk control them instead of him, Kulta can turn his attention to others to control. Narmoto edged his way closer to the mask, currently lying idly on a pedestal. He hadn't been noticed yet, he was slightly confused as surely the mask would be heavily guarded. He kept his wits about him, it was quite likely he was walking into a trap.

He made it to the mask and picked it up, and was just about to make his exit when he was surrounded by Vonahk. It had indeed been a trap, but Narmoto was ready. He fired a volley at the Vonahk from his shoulder-mounted cannon, clearing a path through. He sprinted towards the gap in their ranks, the spiders realised what he was doing and rushed to fill the spot. However, the few that made it by the time the protector got there were quickly dispatched by his fiery blades. It was just then that Narmoto wondered where the lord of the Vonahk was.

…

Kulta was bored. When Ekimu had knocked his mask of the Elements (because the MASK OF ULTIMATE POWAAAR! Sounds dumb) from his face, it had been sent far away. Of course, he had given some of his minions the task of finding it, but so far it had proved fruitless. It was just then the one of his skull legion warriors entered the room. "Lord Kulta," he began, "The lord of the Vonahk has caught someone,"

"Let it him in," Kulta said, with his full attention. The spider like rahi was admitted inside and unravelled its quarry at Kulta's feet. "Narmoto, the protector of fire." he grinned, "I have no use nor quarrel with him, take him somewhere secluded and end him."

"You will pay for your actions Kulta, I swear upon it," Narmoto growled. And with that, he was dragged away.

…

The lord of the Vonahk had found a suitable spot in the Jungle region and was just about to deal the blow when... Vizuna and Lewa bursted through the trees and attacked! The creature hissed menacingly and stabbed at the two with its sharp legs. The two of them were easily able to dodge this however. But Lewa got a little cocky. "I could do this all day!" He laughed with childlike glee, dodging two more strikes with relative ease.

"No Lewa! The moment you underestimate your enemy is the moment they will defeat you." Vizuna cautioned, while letting off a volley of blasts from his bow at the creature.

"Relax," Lewa began, "the moment this guy gets the drop on me-" Lewa didn't get to finish the sentence as he was launched into the trunk of a tree. "Okay," he groaned, "maybe you have a point."

"We cannot beat this creature; our weapons have no effect and we can only dodge its attacks for so long. We must take its captive and flee!" Vizuna exclaimed.

"Your wish is my command!" Lewa said jokingly, as he ducked past the creature and grabbed the webbed up Narmoto.

"Good work Lewa, now run!" Vizuna yelled. The two ran off in different directions and the lord howled in rage.

Lewa sliced cleanly through the webbing while bringing no harm to the protector of fire inside. "Narmoto? How did you get in there? I expected to meet you at a much later time!" Vizuna laughed, surprised at the sight of his fellow protector.

"It is a long and informative story, my friend," Narmoto replied.

"How so?" Vizuna asked.

"The large rahi you've just faced is now in control of the spiders directly, it is in possession of a mask designed for such a purpose." Narmoto explained. "If we could get a hold of that mask, we could assume control of them all!"

"So, after my fellow Toa and I get our masks, we strike there first," Lewa chipped in.

"Exactly!" Narmoto exclaimed. "I shall reach out with my mask of Telepathy and tell the others!" (yes, the protectors have great Kanohi) And with that, Narmoto reached out and projected a message into the mind of his fellow protectors, telling them their next move after claiming the masks of power. "I shall now return to the village of fire and do what I can to help them. Until we meet again." Narmoto said, heading off in the direction of his village.

…

"Lord Kulta, there is a problem," a skeleton grovelled, "our soldiers have been inexplicably disappearing without a trace."

"What!?" Kulta fumed. "What are you telling me for? Find whoever is responsible!"

"As you wish," the skeleton said, bowing out of the room.

"Lord Kulta, the Lord the of Vonahk has returned bearing bad news-" a different skeleton began.

"IS ANYTHING GOING TO GO RIGHT TODAY!?" Kulta bellowed in rage. He used his ill-acquired mask of telekinesis to rip a chunk of rock from the ground and promptly crush it like powder. The skeleton took the hint and swiftly sidled out the door.

"Lord Kulta-" a third skeleton began.

"Oh, what do you want?" Kulta spat irritably.

"We have found the mask of Elements," the skeleton continued.

"Good, bring it to me." Kulta grinned. Another skeleton walked in, holding the mask aloft. Kulta grabbed it with his mask of Telekinesis and brought it to his face. Power surged through him, like an overpowering sweetness. Kulta collapsed to the floor. "Lord Kulta! Are you alright?" One of the skeletons asked in shock.

"I'm fine, just overwhelmed for a moment is all." Kulta explained, waving him away. And drawing up to his full height, he said: "It's time."

…

Onua shovelled his way through the dirt and rock, closer to the mask. He could feel the power, ebbing and flowing through the ground and was following it to the source. Hop followed closely at his heels. Korgot also helped with the digging using her star drill and fended off stray Vonahk with her chest-mounted rapid shooter.

However, a more common occurrence was to be attacked by the rahi which had attacked Onua and Hop previously. Another such attack surfaced, five of them sprang forth from winding tunnels connecting to the cavern they had entered.

One was instantly knocked out with a heavy punch from Onua, using his shovel claw as a knuckleduster and his strength being enhanced by his Kanohi Pakari. Korgot let off a volley of blasts from her rapid shooter, knocking down a second rahi. The third leapt at Hop, who just barely dodged. Onua quickly came to Hop's aid, knocking out the third creature. "Where are they even coming from?" Onua queried.

"I don't know! I've never even seen these creatures before." Korgot responded as she bashed one in the face with her drill. The creature bellowed with rage and slashed at her savagely with its tail. Korgot's legs were swept from under her and she made hard contact with the ground. "KORGOT!" Onua yelled. Korgot's drill had ruined one of the creature's four eyes. It decided to run for it, taking Korgot with it. Onua didn't even look at the last one as he punched it across the cavern. He wanted to find whatever was causing this, now.

…

When Ekimu woke up in the makeshift dungeon Kulta had made, he realised that his mask of creation had been stripped from him and he'd been given an emergency replacement. Clearly Kulta still wanted him alive for something, the question being: what? A skeleton made its way into the holding cell. "You, follow me, and don't try anything or you'll wish Lord Kulta didn't spare your life." the skeleton said, pointing at Ekimu. Ekimu conceded and shuffled out behind the skeleton. He wanted to find out what Kulta wanted from him.

They went up a plain stairway of haphazardly layered rocks forced into place by hand, which was dimly lit by a number of sputtering torches arranged along the walls. They made it to the surface, and Ekimu had to shield his eyes from the sun due to the sudden light change. When his eyes adjusted, the sight he saw was a depressing one. The place was littered with skeletons and mind controlled Matoran running off on different errands and statues of Kulta were stationed everywhere, the eyes lit by lightstones.

They passed through some of this until: "Ekimu my brother, so glad you could join me. Do you like what I did with the place? Oh wait, of course, you don't want to talk to me, do you? 'You're no brother of mine' and all that." Kulta boomed, quite clearly in his comfort zone. "But I thought I'd show you a little something before you inevitably meet your fate. Remember this?" Kulta said, gesturing to the mask of creation. "I have something else that will allow your old mask to do something quite incredible," With that, he showed Ekimu the recently reclaimed mask of Elements.

"No brother! You must not do this! This is beyond madness!" Ekimu raged.

"Oh, but I will," Kulta retorted, as he placed the mask of Creation on his face. The power pulsed through him, making him glow turquoise for a moment. "Ah, and now..." He said, using the power of the mask enhanced by the others he'd collected to alter his very form. His body twisted and contorted and with a final snap, his upgrade was complete.

Ekimu looked on in horror at Kulta's new and even more powerful form. Kulta smirked in triumph: "This entire island will now bend to my will, the matoran shall cower in my wake and my very name shall strike fear into those who hear it!"

"You make it sound like that's a good thing!" Boomed a voice from afar. Kulta recognised the voice instantly.

"You!" He snarled, "show yourself!"

"As the lord commands!" The voice yelled, tossing his giant axe at Kulta, before returning to his waiting hand as he charged into battle: Axonn! Kulta used the mask of gravity to make Axonn 100 times heavier, slamming him against the ground. Beneath Axonn's feet, snaked their way across floor, beginning to buckle under the pressure. Kulta laughed, "Did you really think you could beat me?"

"No," Axonn replied, "but I kept you distracted long enough to get Ekimu away,"

"WHAT!?" Kulta screeched, "skull legion, pursue Axonn's group, they can't have gotten far."

"As you command, Lord Kulta," Replied the skull legion robotically, running off to find the troublemakers.

"And as for you, Axonn," Kulta continued with cold, quiet, malice, "Your suffering has just begun,"

…

Pohatu and Nilkuu made their way through the endless sand dunes that rose and fell, up and down: a yellow ocean frozen in time. They came across a herd of docile rahi, feeding on some of the sparse vegetation on the edge of a small oasis. But one of them suddenly stopped grazing and cocked its head to one side. It gave out a sharp bellow that got the attention of the others. They, as one rahi, took off to other lands with a cloud of sand kicked up in their wake. "That's not good, is it?" Pohatu observed.

"Not in the slightest," Nilkuu replied, "but many of the rahi in this region are easily spooked. I'm sure we can handle it, whatever it is." Just then, a chilling harmony of gut-wrenching screeches pierced the air, and trailing behind those screeches came a pack of undead Kopiona, resurrected by Kulta.

There were five in total. One had a couple of its legs missing and its tail had some gaps. Another was a little smaller and had a claw missing. The third was slightly differently proportioned, supposedly a different gender, and the side of its face was a little worn. The fourth was fairly ordinary (considering everything). And the fifth, stationed at the front, was the largest and was supposedly in charge.

Sure enough, the front one seemed to order the others to attack with another screech. They formed a semicircle and began to close in on the two warriors, clicking their claws together menacingly. Nilkuu fired a volley at the small one without one of its claws, which screeched and keeled over. Pohatu planted a kick squarely in the jaw of the "normal" one, which was thrown backwards. The Leader lunged at Pohatu and found itself smashed into a wall. The "female" one was speared by Nilkuu's blaster, and dropped to the ground.

The one missing some legs threw itself at Pohatu, using its tail to take Pohatu's mask, weakening him severely. "I feel… So, weak." Pohatu managed, falling to the floor.

"I'm coming!" Nilkuu yelled, charging over. The Kopiona was just about to finish Pohatu off before Nilkuu fired off another volley from his blaster and the bag of bones simply fell to pieces. The "normal" one took the hint and fled. "Just what was that about?" Pohatu exclaimed, as Nilkuu reunited him with his mask.

"I'll be honest, I'm not sure. Those seemed like the skeletons of some Kopiona. I can only assume it's the work of Kulta" Nilkuu stated.

"Well, that's just great," Pohatu observed. And so, the two of them carried on through the desert.

…

Onua clawed his way through the dirt, his eyes saw red and he wanted nothing more than the head of the rahi that had captured Korgot. In the time of Onua's rampage, poor little Hop decided to leave… At least for now. He was sick of digging, he was almost there anyway. He punched through the wall with utter fury.

He found himself surrounded by at least 20 of the rahi he had been facing for quite some time now. He ploughed through them with ease, and followed down a tunnel further into the depths. An endless dripping could be heard from far off, echoing through the darkness. Onua powered onwards, taking out rahi left and right: chasing it to the source. His rampage soon brought him to an absolutely gigantic cavern that stretched beyond the line of sight.

It was filled with a massive crisscross of rough stone pathways and ledges along the walls, the stalactites and the stalagmites. This place was absolutely crawling with the beasts, making their way through the huge place. Onua roared and punched the nearest of them. Its cry reverberated through the place and got the attention of the thousands, if not millions present. He grinned, "finally a real fight!"

…

Gali effortlessly glided through the water, with Kivoda: the protector of Water, following close behind. The two had not had that much opposition as they made their way to Gali's great Kanohi. But that soon changed when the water around them suddenly started to disappear, sucked away by some unseen source. The two were pulled in with it, and found themselves in a strange place.

The walls were soft and a dull purple colour, with helpless fish swimming around at a loss of what to do. The entrance the protector and Toa had entered had been sealed, the only other way out was a currently hole downwards, which didn't look very appealing. "What is this place?" Gali pondered aloud.

"I'm not sure. I've never seen anything like it." Kivoda admitted.

"Well let's not just sit on our hands, I'm making us a way out," Gali announced, stabbing her weapon into the side. The place they were in shook violently. A deep and low roar rumbled through and echoed into silence. At that moment, the exit at the bottom of the "room" opened and began to suck everything in again.

Gali thought quickly and used her limited control over the water to launch her and Kivoda up through the "roof". They rocketed through the "entrance" and out into familiar waters again. "What just happened?" Gali exclaimed.

"I think we just discovered a new rahi," Kivoda chuckled.

…

Tahu and Jaller trudged on through the ash, closer than ever to the location of Tahu's Great Kanohi mask: The Maguma Volcano. The heat, the ash, the smell of brimstone grew stronger and stronger. The Maguma Volcano was no laughing matter, a new eruption taking place _at least_ once a day, even the Ta-matoran found it too intense. "Is it seriously erupting _again!?"_ Tahu growled, "it erupted just 4 hours ago!"

"You know, the matoran have a joke name for this place: the gift mountain," Jaller grinned.

"And why do they call it that?" Tahu asked warily.

"Because it keeps on giving," Jaller said, trying to keep a straight face. His endeavour failed, and he started laughing anyway.

"You think this is funny!?" Tahu bellowed, "we're practically dead out here and you're cracking jokes!?"

"Just trying to lighten up the mood," Jaller grumbled. Their banter was soon interrupted by a snorting, stamping rahi. It was reptilian, with orange and black scales. It stood on four legs and had two strange, wing-like protrusions sprouting from its shoulders. Its head was oval-shaped with a sharp beak, six eyes and two sharp spikes jutting from the scalp. It didn't look very happy. "Great," Tahu groaned, "another rahi. What's this one called?"

"That's a Kapani," Jaller replied, "it really shows just how strong Kulta's influence is. This is normally a very docile rahi. In fact, it's a very popular mount for Ta-Matoran."

"Who cares what it used to be, all that matters is that it's in our way!" Tahu said, taking a step closer, in battle stance.

"No Tahu!" Jaller yelled, "I can deal with this. Father taught me how to tame Kapani in Rano Nui." With that, he slowly edged forward, his hand outstretched. "Oh please," Tahu scoffed. Jaller ignored Tahu's lack of confidence and carried onwards.

The Kapani took a couple of steps back and snapped at Jaller's hand. Jaller recoiled slightly and kept going. Eventually his hand came close enough to pat its shoulder. The Kapani looked a little taken aback, and snapped at Jaller again. "No, no. No need to do that. We're all friends here," Jaller said.

"Told you it wouldn't work." Tahu said smugly.

"Don't count your Fragor berries before you pick them, Tahu." Jaller countered, "I'm hardly done." He patted and rubbed the shoulder of it, slowly. In this action, he began lightly putting pressure on certain areas of the back of the creature which instilled calm. He was mimicking a Kapani greeting.

It seemed a little more placid and it wasn't snapping anymore. "See? It's fine now." Jaller said. Tahu snorted. Jaller bent down and plucked a bright orange plant of some kind from the ground. It was bulbous and also glowed slightly. Jaller offered it to the Kapani, which gladly accepted the offer. "Great, we tamed it. Can we go now?" Tahu asked impatiently, tapping his foot.

"Yes," Jaller replied.

"Finally," Tahu sighed. And so, the two warriors trudged on, with the Kapani deciding to follow. They eventually made it to the foot of the Volcano and began the treacherous journey upwards, with the Kapani still following. They soon found a giant flow of lava blocking their way, some rocks still jutted out from the lava here and there, but they were few and far between. They couldn't climb around it, the side of the volcano was too steep here, they would have to go over it. "No problem," Tahu said confidently, "I can use my powers and my lava board to get us across,"

"Get you across, maybe," Jaller countered, "I'd rather take my chances with the Kapani getting me across."

"What!?" Tahu exclaimed, "how?"

"Kapani are some of the best at traversing obstacles like these," Jaller said, "you see the extra growths? Those are a part of a special balancing mechanism, the most sensitive of any known Rahi to date. It'll be able to get me across just fine. And I'd rather do that than ride shotgun with you like last time, I was convinced I was gonna fall off half the time!"

"Fine, whatever," Tahu remarked bitterly.

…

Onua was uncontrollable, the rahi were falling left and right. One leapt forward and snapped at him, Onua gave it a square blow to the jaw. One came up from behind, Onua charged backwards and slammed it against a wall. One dropped from above and met with Onua's foot. One on his left, uppercut. One on his right, slammed to the ground. One took his legs from underneath him. Onua hit the ground hard, and lashed out wildly at his attacker. The rahi also made acquaintance with the ground.

Onua got back up. He charged through the crowds of them, his fists outstretched, systematically knocking them down. The whole place seemed to congregate on one spot, an entrance of sorts carved into the sheer rock of a stalagmite, and a big one at that. Onua decided he would go there.

Inside, his eyes were greeted with the sight of a throne room of sorts and on that throne, was a larger version of the rahi with four legs, six eyes and a carved staff to top it off. What astonished Onua the most, though, was when it opened its tortoise-like mouth and began to speak in harsh, clicking tones: "Welcome to my not-so-humble abode, Onua. Do you like it? I've made it especially cosy for my guest," She said, gesturing to Korgot, who was locked in a cage. That set Onua's teeth on edge. "Who are you!?" He snarled, "and what do you want from us?"

"Ah, how rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself: I am Kukusi, queen of the Rutohi hive!" She said grandiosely, "and I, want to make a deal."

"I will not make deals with filth that capture my friends," Onua growled.

"My my, that poison has really made you feisty," Kukusi sneered.

"What are you talking about?" Onua demanded.

"Well, do you remember when one of my children made a very bad slash on your chest?" Kukusi asked.

"Yes," Onua stated.

"That slash mark administered a special poison of the mind, which slowly deteriorates your mental state until you become nothing more than a raving beast," Kukusi finished, "I have an antidote, but you will have to witness the unfortunate expiration of your friend to get it,"

"No deal, give me my friend!" Onua yelled.

Kukusi laughed pitilessly: "you really don't want to lose this one, do you Onua?"

"Don't tempt me to do something you'll regret," Onua threatened.

"I'm afraid you're not in any position to be making threats. You're in my throne room, in my hive, filled with my children and you are a single Toa with a vague grasp of your powers." Kukusi pointed out and then clicking her fingers she said: "Take him." Two Rutohi emerged from the dark recesses of the throne room and grabbed Onua by the arms. "You really think these two can hold me?" Onua grinned.

"Ah, that reminds me: remove his mask!" Kukusi ordered. The two Rutohi carried out the order and Onua collapsed to the floor, albeit still with his arms up as the rahi held him. His strength had been halved, and also his extra strength from the Pakari had been removed as well. "Now that you know your place, you will show me where the golden Kanohi has been hidden! It appears this friend of yours will not tell me." She said.

"I'm not telling you anything. Just because you've taken my ability to fight back, doesn't mean I'll yield!" Onua spat.

"You will show me the way, or she gets it!" Kukusi said, starting to lose her composure.

"Fine," Onua agreed defeatedly, a plan beginning to form in his mind.

The chamber which held the mask was quite spectacular with its ornamental feeling. It was in a fairly large room filled with glowing purple crystals that lined the walls, the ceiling and the floor low down below. Onua, Kukusi, Korgot and three Rutohi to guard them stood on an outcrop overlooking the sheer drop into the crystal bed beneath them.

The mask was on a large pillar in the centre, to get to it, you would have to jump across a hovering staircase of the same crystals and hope that you didn't fall. Kukusi made a number of shrill screeches and clicking noises to order one of the Rutohi to retrieve the mask. The rahi bowed its head in obedience and began its way across.

In the meantime, Kukusi began to speak: "I'll be sure to keep you alive until the mask is in my hands, we don't want any funny business, do we?" Korgot had obviously been relieved of her weapons and mask as Onua had, and looked on defeatedly. "And then?" Onua asked.

"I'll have one of my children drop you and your friend into the pit," Kukusi said flatly.

"How dare you!" Onua growled, "you-"

"I never agreed to anything on my part Onua, I just told you to show me the way... I never said you'd live." Kukusi countered smugly, "and my child has returned. So… Let's see." With that, she took the mask from its hands and placed it on her face. She glowed for a moment as the power surged through her. "Perfect," she smiled.

It was then that Onua chose to strike, launching himself at Kukusi. The two wrestled, Onua trying his best to pry off the mask from her face and Kukusi trying to shake Onua off. The three Rutohi guards had their attention on the two as they tried to break up the fight. Then Korgot struck from behind, quickly and systematically taking them out.

Onua still clung on, now dodging ferocious snaps from Kukusi as she tried to rid herself of him. Korgot joined the fight, who'd had enough time to find most vulnerable pressure points of the Rutohi from attacking the guards: one sharp jab between the shoulder blades, one jab slightly to the left of the small of her back and one jab to the nape. The Rutohi queen collapsed to the floor. Onua was astonished: "where did you learn that?"

"From my father," Korgot responded, "he was the Protector of Earth before me. He taught me everything I know about combat."

"Well, thanks for the help," Onua stated, "that turned from a bad plan to a victory thanks to y-" Onua fell to his knees and screamed. "This rage..." He could just manage, "is worse than before, I don't think I can control it!"

"Quick, the mask!" Korgot said, "legend says it can cure many ailments!" Onua used what manner of strength he had left to roll over Kukusi's body and removed the mask from her face, switching it to his own. He glowed purple as the power surged through him, practically lifting him off of his feet for a moment. Then he stood, cured of the poison. "Many thanks," Onua smiled, "we ought to leave, before _she_ wakes up."

…

Lewa and Vizuna were closer to the mask than ever. They had entered a new section of the Jungle, possibly the most bizarre yet. Lewa hazarded a question: "Are those... Giant mushrooms?"

"Yes," Vizuna replied simply, "let's not dawdle," And with that, the two of them entered the strange fungal canopy.

…

The trio had practically made it to the entrance in the volcano. Tahu, Jaller and the Kapani had made it through several obstacles together. "That Kapani actually has been pretty useful. Good call." Tahu admitted. Jaller beamed at the compliment, getting a "good call" from Tahu was the equivalent of getting a statue built in his honour. Suddenly, hundreds of Vonahk popped up from nowhere. "They've found the mask!" Jaller exclaimed.

"These tiny things are threat? Please. I could take out all of these whelps with one hand behind my back!" Tahu boomed confidently.

"Don't underestimate the Vonahk!" Jaller warned, "if they can get on your face, they'll take over your mind!"

"They can try!" Tahu snorted, as he prepared for battle.

"Well Tahu: you take the 500 on the right, I'll take the 500 on the left," Jaller said sarcastically.

"I'll take 501!" Tahu retorted.

"That's the spirit!" Jaller congratulated.

Tahu, Jaller and the Kapani tried their best to fight off the seemingly endless horde of Vonahk. During the fight, the Kapani was surprisingly effective, probably taking out the most of them. But in the end, even Tahu with his confidence and bravado was eventually taken down too. It was only the untimely arrival of a certain lime-green figure that the three were saved from Kulta's total control. "I'll take it from here," He stated. The spiders were picked off one by one from a distance, and then the saviour came in close to take out the rest with the blade that was fixed onto his weapon. "Well?" he questioned, "go, before more arrive!" The trio made it to the mouth of the volcano without another word, with their saviour disappearing without a trace.

"You know, that Rahi probably fought the best out of the three of us." Tahu admitted, "I think it deserves a name."

"You think so?" Jaller asked, "Hmm… How about… Tupeke?"

"Not bad," Tahu said. Jaller beamed, Tahu was feeling particularly generous today, it seemed. It was then that Jaller saw the mask. "There!" Jaller pointed.

"Consider it done," Tahu replied, as he used a combination of his control over the lava to raise the levels where he stood and his lava surfing skills to speed down, grab the mask and ride back up again. "You weren't kidding," Jaller said.

"You should know better than to doubt me by now," Tahu boasted.

"Well the whole point is that getting to the mask would be a challenge to test your strength," Jaller began.

"And did you think this wasn't challenging?"

"Did you?"

"Whatever, I'm putting on the mask," Tahu finished, doing as he said. He took off his old mask and replaced it with his golden one, glowing bright red for a moment as he did so. "Now _this_ is power!" Tahu exclaimed.

"Great! Now, we should go to the rendezvous point as father instructed." Jaller explained.

…

Lewa and Vizuna advanced through the strange mushroom canopy. Ominous noises growled and hooted and howled out from the darker reaches, giving Lewa the shivers. "How much further?" Lewa asked.

"Not far." Vizuna replied.

"Not helpful." Lewa responded.

"This is only going to be more mundane if you keep asking 'how much further', Lewa. Be patient." Vizuna snapped.

"It's not boredom, this place is spooky." Lewa said, his voice wavering a little.

"Oh, them?" Vizuna asked, gesturing to the noises, "they won't hurt us, if they know what's good for them."

"Well I guess they don't, then," Lewa countered, pointing ahead. Vizuna's eyes followed and saw it too. All he could muster was: "Oh dear." The creatures were something between dogs and bears, with powerful forequarters and sharp tusks like small spears. There were about 11 in all, but who's counting? "What are they?" Lewa hazarded.

"They're impossible. They're extinct, our ancestors were sure of it! They're Marukada: the most dangerous beasts of the Jungle, and we're doomed if we don't make it to that mask in time."

"Glad to know," Lewa said sarcastically, "hop on my back, I'll fly us over."

"Are you insane? It's too dense to navigate!"

"Any better ideas?"

Vizuna sighed and agreed. The two took to the sky. The Marukada were quick to follow, baying after them. Lewa was indeed having some trouble, the mushrooms were everywhere and gave very little room for error, and it didn't help that the Marukada were doing a good job keeping up.

"Look out!" Vizuna yelled as they quickly approached another mushroom. "Whoa!" Lewa yelled, as he had been just a little distracted at the Rahi beasts snapping at the from below, he quickly changed direction to dodge around it. As he went through this gauntlet, he swerved left, right, did a loop, a steep drop downwards and then back up to avoid some particularly tricky territory where two mushrooms intertwined and finally landed at the pedestal holding his mask.

The Marukada quickly caught up to them. "Lewa, the mask!" Vizuna called behind him while charging up his bow.

"I know!" Lewa called back, placing the mask on his face, glowing bright green for a moment as the energy surged through him. "Get clear!" Lewa yelled as he charged up his elemental power.

Vizuna obliged and sure enough, the Marukada were all suddenly blasted back with a powerful discharge of air. After forcefully moving a mushroom out of the way with another powerful blast of air, Lewa (with Vizuna on his back again) flew off, heading to the rendezvous point.

…

The pedestal stood not too far away, atop it: Pohatu's golden mask shimmered, glowed, seeped with raw elemental power. He had finally made it! Surrounding it was an ornamental shrine of sorts, with geometric shapes and messages engraved upon the carved stone in Matoran.

"Very nice, very fancy." Pohatu remarked.

"Ekimu thought it best for these shrines to honour your meaning to us in our time of need," Nilkuu replied simply.

"Yeah... Ekimu. I'll be honest I don't really know all that much about the guy. I mean, aside from the fact that he made masks and was Maku- I mean Kulta's brother and all." Pohatu stated.

"Well, it's strange," Nilkuu began, as the two continued their way towards the mask shrine, "we don't know that much about him either. In fact, we don't even know where he comes from. He just showed up one day, and even as the others around him aged, he doesn't seem any older than he was then, Makuta too. It's almost like they're not even proper Matoran."

"Huh, odd." Was all Pohatu could say, "anyway, back to business."

They'd made it to the mask, when suddenly the dreaded screeches started up again. "You've got to be kidding me! More of them?" Pohatu exclaimed.

"Well, at least you'll have your golden mask this time, shouldn't be a problem." Nilkuu reminded him, prompting towards the mask.

"Oh, right, I'll get on that." Pohatu responded, placing the mask on his face and as the others, glowed with elemental power. The Kopiona soon found themselves overwhelmed by a sandstorm that flung them in all directions. One ended up being flung into Pohatu, knocking his mask off. The sandstorm quickly ceased. "A warning would be nice next time!" Nilkuu complained. Pohatu wrestled with the Kopiona that had landed on him, struggling without the strength of his mask.

Nilkuu was soon to come to his aid though, blasting the creature off of him and returning his mask. "Okay, it's official, I hate those things." Pohatu announced.

"Well more are on the way!" Nilkuu exclaimed, pointing at the incoming assailants.

"Quick fix," Pohatu said flatly, as the ground beneath the undead rahi was lifted and launched into the sky, quickly acquainting itself with the ground once more. "I think I enjoyed doing that way more than I should." Pohatu admitted.

"Well, to the rendezvous point, then." Nilkuu said, returning his mind to the mission, as always.

"Can't we use the Kakama, though?" Pohatu pleaded.

"No amount of persuasion is going to make me go through that again," Nilkuu said, with finality.

"But it'll make it go faster! If not for anything else, for the sake of the mission!" Pohatu pressed on.

"Oh... Fine. But don't try anything fancy, point A to point B, nothing more. Understand?" Nilkuu gave in.

And so, the two sped off to the rendezvous point, the colours and features flashing by them in mere moments, reduced to a blur. The air resistance was nothing to scoff at either, and Nilkuu quickly realized just why he'd hated this so much the first time.

…

Kopaka strode through the snow, shield and spear in hand, with Izotor following closely behind. "It's just over that hill," Izotor said, pointing at the snow-covered hill ahead of them. "I know," Kopaka replied.

"Ah, your Akaku, of course!" Izotor surmised.

"And more Rahi too," Kopaka continued, he focused on the shapes, "New ones."

"What do they look like?" Izotor asked, preparing for the worst.

"Large, six-legged, big claws," Kopaka listed off the major identifying points.

"Thwala, they're called Thwala. This is not going to be fun." Izotor stated.

"It never is," Kopaka noted, as he readied his battle stance.

The two warriors came over the hill and charged at the creatures head on. They were quick to react, lashing out at the two, staying bunched together, blocking the way to the mask.

Izotor fired off a volley of freezing rounds, encasing the shoulder of one of them in a sheet of ice. It roared and shattered its prison in an instant, lunging at the Protector. It fell upon his blade, and slumped over: motionless.

Kopaka struck at one with his spear, its upper hide was too thick to penetrate. Kopaka instead froze its head and pushed it aside. The one next to it was soon to close the gap, slashing savagely at the Toa, who blocked the attack with his shield. The Thwala roared and slashed at him, batting him back, but Kopaka's stance held.

Izotor was struggling under the weight of the fallen beast, he couldn't get out from under it! He stabbed his weapon's blade into the ground, he pulled, with a little effort, he managed to pull himself out. He had no time to rest, though, as he was faced with two more. "We won't last much longer if you don't make it to the mask!" He called over to his comrade.

"I'm trying!" Kopaka yelled back, just managing to keep up with the speed and ferocity of his opponent's blows, as if he was fighting a dozen creatures and not one. Kopaka shifted as much effort as he could afford to charging up his elemental power. It grew, the energy rising through his body, flowing through his hands and into his spear: the focusing tool that it was. It grew more and more, it was sapping his strength.

He let go, a pure beam of cold firing from the tip of his spear, which made short work of the creature before him. He focused the beam on another, and another, clearing his path. When he was done, he'd taken out six. It would have to do.

He charged, making a B-line for his mask, doing his best to dodge and parry and block the attempts of the Thwala as he went past. He reached the mask, stretched out his hand... It was snatched away from him in a blur. His eyes widened. The beasts that surrounded him looked at him hungrily.

Suddenly one of them fell. Then another, and another. They dropped one by one into the snow, until he could see the straight aim of a strange figure dressed in lime green armour. Izotor stood beside him, quite worn out. "He appeared out of nowhere and saved me!" He exclaimed.

"Come on!" The figure exclaimed, "If we hurry, we'll catch him before he makes it far!"

...

Gali glided gracefully through the water, the water so clean and blue. The colour sprouted outwards, filling every inch of vision: the coral, the fish, the deep blue itself. It was a visual masterpiece.

Kivoda glided behind with his turbines, he was running low on air again. It was too late to head to the surface, he instead harvested from an oxygen-storing plant. Rejuvenated again, he carried onward. "I wish I had a Kaukau right about now," Kivoda mused.

"Well you do have a mask of Sonar. That can be useful." Gali pointed out.

"I guess you're right," Kivoda replied, "But let's focus on your mask, shall we?"

"Speaking of which, I see it just ahead!" Gali noted, "But..."

"Which ones?" Kivoda asked, interpreting her sentence before she finished.

"I don't know, I don't think I've seen them before, and there are Vonahk with them," Gali responded.

"I'll have a look," Kivoda said, using his mask of Sonar to "see" the creatures up ahead from their shape. He gasped. "What is it?" Gali inquired, concerned.

"They're a myth... But yet, there they are." Kivoda said to himself.

Gali got no more out of him as Kivoda grimly prepared for battle. The large figures walked along the seabed on great stilts, armed with claws and sharp teeth. They were clearly far too close to the surface than normal with the bioluminescence that flecked their bodies and the giant light-sucking eyes. They were not something you would like to see looming in the darkness, that's for sure.

And the noise, the guttural echoing noise sent shivers down Gali's spine. The two arrived at the mask. Kivoda fired off some rounds at the creatures, they had seemingly no effect. Gali's trident made contact with one of them, it got stuck in the shoulder. She was grabbed like tennis ball and lobbed away.

"How do we fight these things?" Gali yelled.

"I don't know, nobody does, they're just supposed to be an old tale to keep children from swimming off alone. They're not meant to be real!" Kivoda yelled back, as he fired a harpoon at one and was yanked through the water is his target tried to dislodge it.

They fought on, it seemed hopeless. And then, all of a sudden... They disappeared. The weary fighters didn't stop long to question it, they were glad. The mask was theirs in moments. "If I had this on when we fought them, we might've won!" Gali exclaimed at the sudden surge.

"Let's not think on maybes Gali, we should be going," Kivoda reminded her.

...

They had followed the trail of the thief, and had come up with nothing. "He's like a ghost! How are we supposed to follow him if the tracks keep leaving dead ends?" Izotor growled.

"Patience," the figure replied simply, "he'll stop soon, trust me."

"Trust you? We hardly know anything about you!" Izotor snapped.

"Quiet. Listen." Kopaka interrupted, cocking his ear.

"That's him," the stranger whispered, "You two wait here. I'll go on ahead and take him out, then you two can come in and take the mask." Without waiting for approval, he advanced with utmost silence.

"Well that's just great," Izotor muttered, "we're just going to sit on our hands and hope he comes back?"

"Yes." Kopaka said. So, they waited. A scuffle was briefly heard, combat, then silence. Then the stranger returned, new strength in his stride. "All clear," He announced.

The Toa and Protector, side by side, stepped out into plain. The thief, draped in a cloak, lay unconscious a few feet away in the snow. The mask was still in his open palm. Kopaka picked it up, and placed it on his face. At last, the power was his. Kopaka was satisfied. "Kopaka, are you... Smiling?" Izotor hazarded.

"It's nothing, facial tick from the power." Kopaka explained hastily.

"Right..." Izotor replied, unconvinced, "hold on. Where did the other guy go?"

They looked around them. The stranger and the thief were gone. "Odd." Kopaka mused.

"Oh well," Izotor shrugged, "We should get going."

"Agreed," Kopaka replied. And with that, the two headed to their destination...


	4. The Toa Unite

The rendezvous point stood on the outskirts of the city, not too far from the Vonahk lair. It was a clearing in the jungle of the region of air, some grass, some wild flowers and a rock. Pohatu and Nilkuu arrived first, of course. A burst of wind and rustling of leaves signified their arrival.

They came to a sharp stop. "I feel sick," Nilkuu groaned as he was lowered from Pohatu's back.

"Just deep breaths, you'll be fine." Pohatu said nonchalantly.

"Easy for you to say, you're a Toa." Nilkuu muttered.

"So we just wait for everyone else to show up?" Pohatu asked.

"Pretty much, and it's going to be a while, for obvious reasons." Nilkuu explained. And so the two waited. It in fact wasn't for all that long, as Lewa and Vizuna soon arrived as well.

"I hope we're not late!" Lewa called as he dropped down from the sky, landing a short distance away from the two, with Vizuna dismounting. The warriors in green walked over to the warriors in brown, exchanging greetings.

"Vizuna," Nilkuu said.

"Nilkuu," Vizuna returned. The two had known each-other many years, but they weren't exactly friends as opposed to colleagues.

The meeting between Lewa and Pohatu was rather different: "So you must be Lewa," Pohatu began.

"And you're Pohatu?" Lewa returned.

"That's right," Pohatu replied with a smile. They didn't have much time to converse as a new pair entered the scene: Kopaka and Izotor.

The Protectors were quick to gather as the Toa were attracted to each-other as well. The Toa felt as though they had fought together before, but they had just met! It was a strange feeling indeed. "So I'm Pohatu, and this is Lewa," Pohatu introduced them to the newcomer.

"Kopaka," was all the icy Toa said.

"So what about the Vonahk lord?" Lewa asked.

"Well first, we'll need a plan," Pohatu answered, "Any ideas?"

The Protectors were also in conversation with one-another, but about a very different subject.

"It's strange, Lewa seemed not to remember anything," Vizuna began.

"That's odd, the same goes for Kopaka," Izotor noted.

"And Pohatu," Nilkuu added. Realization dawned on the faces of the gathered trio.

"Oh no," The three said in unison.

Then Onua and Korgot arrived, with Hop also in tow, who'd returned to them shortly after they'd acquired their mask.

"So what's new?" Korgot called over to the other Protectors.

"Has Onua had a memory problem by any chance?" Vizuna asked.

"Actually, he has. Why? Have the others lost theirs too?" Korgot replied.

"Unfortunately," Vizuna sighed, "Let's just hope it doesn't get too in the way of the mission,"

"Well, if we're going to do anything, we should get a lay of the land first. We're walking into the heart of the enemy, we need not make it any worse for ourselves." Onua advised.

"Good point," Pohatu agreed, "Lewa, do you think you could scout up ahead in the air and give us an idea of what we're up against?"

"On it," Lewa replied, as he headed off into the air.

…

From this birds-eye view, Lewa could see the sheer size of it. Broken trees and webs scattered across the outer edges of the place to ward away intruders. Within, the Vonahk crawled everywhere, as if the ground itself was alive. Then, further off: a mask glinted, nestled between the front feelers of the Vonahk lord. The lord lay upon a web net strung between a number of trees, in a state of rest. Lewa had seen all he needed to, he headed back to the others.

…

Lewa landed back over at the group, that had in the intervening time been joined by Gali and Kivoda. "Hello... Gali, right? I'm Lewa!" Lewa greeted.

"Hi!" Gali replied.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Pohatu noted to his icy brother.

"I don't waste my words." Kopaka responded coldly.

"I guess that makes sense," Pohatu said uneasily.

"So what went wrong, then?" Kivoda asked.

"We don't know," Nilkuu admitted.

"Let's hope it doesn't come back to bite us." Kivoda hoped.

"So now it's only Tahu and Jaller left," Vizuna noted.

"Yes," Korgot confirmed.

It was then that Jaller, Tupeke and Tahu arrived. "Greetings, fellow Toa!" Tahu boomed.

"Oh dear," Jaller muttered to himself.

"Your leader: Tahu, the master of fire, has arrived." Tahu continued arrogantly.

 _Who does this guy think he is?_ Kopaka thought to himself, _There's no way I'm letting this blundering buffoon walk over me:_ "And who decided you were our leader?" Kopaka said indignantly.

"I did," Tahu replied, "I'm clearly the most capable."

"Because you can clearly make a verdict on first appearances, can't you?" Kopaka spat back.

"Brothers, need we have these petty squabbles?" Gali asked, but her voice was drowned out over Tahu's reply: "I WILL NOT BE CHALLENGED BY THIS NONSENSE!"

"Very well," Kopaka decided, "If you want to lead us, fight me, and win."

"I hardly think this is ne-" Onua began.

"You stay out of this!" Tahu snapped, "I accept your challenge!"

Tahu charged, swords in battle position. Kopaka froze one of his feet and Tahu stumbled to the ground with a thud. He quickly melted the ice, growled, and leaped into action. Tahu's attacks were furious, but unfocused, and Kopaka could dodge them easily. "Why you little- STAY. STILL!" Tahu yelled, getting more and more angry with the Toa of ice with each passing second.

"What in the name of Ekimu are they DOING?" Vizuna yelled.

"Guys! Stop fighting, we need to save our strength for the real enemy!" Korgot called over. But their efforts were in vain, the two no longer heeded any words.

Tahu had had just about enough of this annoyance's nonsense, he bellowed with rage and blasted a wave of fire towards him. Kopaka countered by bringing up a wall of ice that negated the dangerous flames into steam. Tahu leaped at him in blind fury, hoping to at least get close enough to do some damage.

But someone came between the two, blasting them up against two separate trees and holding them there. "STOOOOOOOP!" Lewa yelled, his hands still outstretched, holding them in place. He was breathing heavily. "This is not going to help anything!" Lewa continued, "Is this really what you turn to? Fighting each-other? We are Toa! We're better than this! We need to focus on what's happening now and leave this for another time! Got it?"

"Fine," Tahu grumbled.

"Very well," Kopaka snapped.

"I'm going to let you two go now, okay? And don't you dare try that again, or I might try a tornado next time." Lewa said slowly, as though he was explaining it to children. He released them, and they fell to the floor.

The two said nothing, locked eyes for a moment and then walked back over to the others in silence. "Okay... Now that _that's_ over, do we have a plan?" Pohatu asked.

"Well... Yes and no," Onua answered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Pohatu replied, confused.

"We have a plan... Just not a very good one." Onua explained.

"Fire away," Pohatu smiled.

"So, as Lewa explained, there's no way to get into the lair anywhere other than the entrance on foot, and we can hardly just have Lewa fly in there and take it, far too risky. So, we're going to need somebody to keep the spiders busy while we cut a hole through, or if Lewa finds a way on the inside. Once we're in, we can incapacitate the lord and take the mask before they're any the wiser." Onua elaborated.

"Well, who'll be bait?" Lewa inquired.

"I suggest Tahu," Pohatu replied.

"I wonder why," Kopaka muttered to himself.

"What was that?" Tahu demanded.

"Be quiet, you two!" Onua cut in.

"I guess I'll be bait then." Tahu said dejectedly.

...

The Vonahk Lord couldn't have possibly seen it coming, a Toa charging right through the main gate? Suicide. It set the Vonahk on him with the mask and went back to sleep.

…

Tahu did exactly as he was told: be as loud and obvious as possible. The little beasts were everywhere, so many of them, too many. _No Tahu, steel yourself, you have the mask now, no problem at all._ The fire blasted in all directions, charring the creatures left and right. This would be easier than he thought.

...

Lewa landed on the other side. It looked a lot worse down here than it did in the air, the webs were everywhere and the constant movement of so many Vonahk in on place had churned up the ground into a muddy mess in which grass refused to grow.

He searched for a place to get over to the other side, he noticed a fallen tree that had taken out a fair bit of the webbing in the area, the tree had only fallen recently and the spiders hadn't had the chance to patch over the gap.

The four Toa, the five Protectors, Jaller, Tupeke and Hop waited in silence. "Psst," Lewa whispered, "I've found a way in!"

...

They were becoming more and more numerous, and Tahu's fire could not keep them at bay much longer. He tried to use his mask of shielding, but the enemies were too numerous, he could not anticipate all their attacks. _Come on, come on! I can't give in!_ But it was no use, the spiders overpowered him. They covered him, and one of them replaced his mask with themselves. Tahu felt a new conscience forcing itself upon his own, he tried to fight it, to remove the little beast, but to no avail.

In moments, the creature had discovered everything about the Toa, his memories, his thoughts, all in its power. It fed this information to the Lord, which was once again awoken from its slumber. It was slightly surprised that the Toa had snuck up on it, not for long though. The Vonahk were ordered to enslave them all.

A strange voice in Tahu's mind spoke:

 _FIND THE TOA, DEFEAT THE TOA_

 _No, I don't want to!_

 _DEFEAT THE TOA_

 _No, no, no! Get out of my head!_

 _FIND THE TOA, DEFEAT THE TOA_

 _Stop! I'm in control! This is my hea-_

 _DEFEAT THE TOA_

 _No! I... I..._

 _FIND THE TOA_

 _Defeat the Toa. Find the Toa, defeat the Toa..._

...

The group had found the Lord, and it was not happy. It spat webbing at Korgot, pinning her down, but she was quickly freed by her comrades. Lewa engulfed it in a mini twister that spun it high into the air. It was then hit by a rather large rock from Pohatu and on its way down was greeted by an elevated mound of dirt from Onua. It lay, stunned and twitching, as the Toa advanced towards the mask controlling the Vonahk.

They didn't reach it, however, as Tahu and the Vonahk themselves arrived, surrounding them. "Well that's just great! Tahu's under their control!" Jaller exclaimed.

"Who thought it was a good idea to only send Tahu to distract them?" Kivoda complained.

"Well, look on the bright side," Onua countered, "without the gold mask Tahu won't be anywhere near as powerful as normal!"

"Less talking, more fighting!" Nilkuu interrupted. The group braced themselves for battle.

Spikes began to jut up from the ground, blaster fire was flung in all directions, Vonahk were suddenly frozen on the spot, gale force winds roared through the battlefield and what very little water surrounded them was used rather effectively. "Someone has to free Tahu of their control!" Onua bellowed over the howling of the air and the mortal screeches of the Rahi beasts.

"On it!" Gali called back as she advanced towards him.

Their weapons clashed, the spider-like mask hissed at her. She swung her weapon down from the right, then left, tried some jabs from the trident end and was promptly disarmed. She was knocked on her back, blades to her throat. Gali cursed herself.

She decided to try one last trick: "Tahu! I know you're in there! We may not know each other very well, or maybe we do: it's hard to tell. But if I've learned one thing about you, it's that you don't give up this easily! Fight it Tahu, fight its control! We can only win when we follow the three Virtues! Remember them! We must stand together in Unity, our Duty is to save this island, and our Destiny is to succeed! FIGHT THEM TAHU!"

What came next was a clear struggle within him, Tahu's movements becoming seemingly hesitant and twitchy, and an audible yell being emitted.

 _DEFEAT HER, DEFEAT THE TOA_

 _No! You… don't… control me!_

 _DEFEAT THE TOA_

 _I control me! This is my head, you don't belong here!_

 _DEFEAT HER_

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Tahu bellowed, in a violent spasm tearing the wretched creature from his face. He blasted out flames in all directions about as intensely as he could in this great state of weakness. "We've got Tahu back!" Lewa whooped.

"Now we might actually win!" Jaller cheered.

The United group, now bolstered by the moral of Tahu's release, battled valiantly. But, in the end, the Vonahk were too much for them. It was almost too late, but suddenly the figure in lime returned. The creatures began to be picked off, with immense accuracy from a nearby tree. They soon realized where he was located and began an advance upon him.

"You need to split up!" Phantoka called down to them as he found a new vantage point, "The Lord uses the mask to control them all! If you split up, it'll need to focus on several places at once, and I might be able to have a shot at it!"

With a plan in mind, the group scattered outwards, much to the chagrin of the Vonahk Lord. It tried to deal with them all at once, that wasn't working. The group made their attacks from different sides and all directions, making it difficult to be pinned down. The Vonahk spread out to accommodate them all, spreading their forces thinly. And to the Lord, being in control of them all, it was akin to being attacked on all sides.

Phantoka had found a new vantage point, and was taking aim. The Vonahk Lord was too focused on the Toa and Matoran attacking its minions to think on him. It was in his sights. He fired. The creature screeched.

...

Kulta knew of and understood the pain of the Lord, even from this distance, as they were mentally linked. "The Toa are close!" He exclaimed at this revelation.

"You there!" He said, pointing to a nearby skeleton, "Gather up a small battalion and march to the lair of the Vonahk Lord. We shall give the Toa a greeting they won't forget!"

...

The Vonahk Lord was quick to discern the location of its attacker, and promptly spat a glob of webbing at the spot. Phantoka tried his best to leap out of the way, but the sticky projectile just managed to catch his leg and he was slammed against a tree. He could however still aim, even upside down, and managed to let off another shot at the Lord. Its screech signified another successful hit.

Phantoka then turned his attention to potentially freeing himself. He activated his own elemental powers, and managed to bend back the tree he was stuck to so that he was the right way up, in a sort of awkward kneeling position.

Before he could do anything else, he heard the all-too familiar chittering of the Vonahk as they made their way up the tree. He thought fast, using the sharp blade section of his weapon to cut his leg free and got into battle stance.

Kopaka took out Vonahk left and right with his spear, freezing and stabbing. Some he flung away by knocking them with his shield. There was something inherently annoying about the sheer number of them. Maybe it was the noise, maybe it was the seeming hopelessness as new creatures filled the gaps that were made where its brethren had fallen, and maybe still it was something else entirely. Whatever it was, it drove Kopaka to get rid of them as soon as possible.

Another of them met a bad end at the blade of Phantoka's weapon, stuck onto it like a bit of meat on a spit. Phantoka shook it off of it. He looked around him, there wasn't very much living plantlife he could use to his advantage, that was annoying. However, he was doing a good job getting rid of them by himself. But this was only a distraction, he NEEDED to get back to the task at hand. If he wanted it to work out as planned, at least.

He decided to get the attention of one of the Toa: Lewa would do. "Lewa!" He yelled, slashing at another of the creatures, "I could use some assistance!" Lewa was quick to answer the call, arriving soon after and alighting on the tree next to him. "Ah, there you are! Make sure the Vonahk don't reach me so I can focus on aiming!" Phantoka commanded.

"Will do!" Lewa called back as he got to work.

His sights fell upon the Lord once again. "Come on, come on!" He muttered, "Right between the eyes!" Just as he fired, one of the Vonahk managed to get through, nearly knocking him off the tree and making his shot miss wildly. "Lewa! You were supposed to keep them off me!" Phantoka snapped.

"Sorry!" Lewa apologized. Phantoka grumbled something incoherent and returned to aiming.

...

Tahu was doing a good job holding off the Vonahk, fortunately. He tried not to let the fact they had beaten him once get to him. That'd been a massive stab to his ego and he still felt the burning shame. It made him angry. He used that to his advantage, channeling his frustrations into his elemental fire. The flames roared and spat at the creatures, giving them burns and causing much distress.

Tahu looked up to Phantoka's vantage point: _What's taking him so long?_

"HEY!" he called up to him, "We won't be able to hold them off forever! We need you to take that shot: now!"

"Well how about you try aiming while Vonahk are attacking you and then we'll talk!" came his reply. Tahu growled as he tried to think of a clever retort of his own. His effort failed. Instead he just grumbled and returned to getting rid of as many of the little parasites as he could.

...

 _He's right, I need to make this one count._ Phantoka thought to himself, _here goes nothing…_

The compressed pellet of elemental energy was let loose from the barrel with a specially controlled discharge of elemental energy, blasting it towards its intended target. It hit the Lord right between the eyes. It was over so fast it likely felt nothing at all as it slumped over.

And then, all at once the Vonahk stopped. Not in the way that they froze in place like statues, but they just halted, incredibly confused and distressed by the sudden end to the flow of commands.

Jaller took advantage of the confusion and snatched the Vonahk-controlling mask from the limp body of their former master, putting it on himself. "Wait a minute, who says you get to wear it?" Tahu complained.

"Because the Protectors will be going back to their respective villages and you Toa already have your special masks that you need to keep wearing. I'm what's left." Jaller responded.

"Well... When you put it like that I guess it makes sen-" Tahu admitted.

"Everyone quiet, I think Hop's trying to tell us something." Onua interrupted.

"I think she can see something." Korgot whispered.

"But what?" Gali asked in equally soft tones.

"Well, whatever it is has her spooked, so it can't be any good." Korgot replied.

Then, suddenly; the skeletons sprang out from between the trees, toting bows, spears and swords. There were a couple dozen of them at least, and they all looked like they were ready to do some serious damage. "EVERYONE STICK TOGETHER AND HOLD STANCE!" Tahu bellowed. The group did as they were told, aside from Phantoka, who continued to snipe them from his vantage point on the tree.

"Now would be a good time to make use of that mask, I think." Onua pointed out to Jaller. Jaller nodded, and used his new influence over them to command the Vonahk to attack their former allies.

Gale-force winds, chunks of the ground, energy bolts from the protectors, waves of fire and water and shards of ice scorched, pierced and knocked down the skeletal warriors. Those who were knocked down were too stunned to resist as the Vonahk overtook their minds by replacing their masks. Soon the entire unit had turned on itself. It was all over in a matter of minutes. Any that had not been defeated or taken over fled.

"Now, THAT was Unity." Vizuna commented.

"Agreed." Nilkuu added.

"Well, it seems like you guys and girl have it covered here. I think we protectors should be heading back." Korgot observed.

"Hear! Hear!" Kivoda chimed in.

"So it's settled. We go our separate ways." Onua confirmed.

"What abou- Wait, he's gone!" Tahu was about to comment on Phantoka, but in usual fashion he'd disappeared.

"That Phantoka sure is a strange one." Lewa noted.

"Phantoka?" Pohatu queried.

"Well, we need to call him something, don't we?" answered Lewa.

"Anyway, let's be on our way." Vizuna cut in, bringing the conversation back on course.

And with that, the two groups went their separate ways. The protectors back to their villages, and the Toa (and Jaller and the Rahi) on to Rano-Nui...


	5. Resistance is Futile

The city stood in the mountains, strong and unbreakable. Even with the invasion of Kulta, its outer walls still held a certain grand awe. It was all made from stone of a dull grey colour, and yet it still gleamed like silver. The solid pillars of stone supporting the fortress-like structure stabbed into the obscuring, thick, practically opaque mist below. A thinner blanket of mist somewhat obscured the source of the lights that radiated outwards. It was a foreboding sight to the assembled Toa and their companions, especially considering who was now in control of it.

"So this is it, then? Rano Nui?" Tahu asked.

"The very same," Jaller responded simply.

"It's... Impressive." Tahu commented.

"It's also very well guarded," Kopaka noted, pointing out the skeleton guards he could make out from this distance, "What's the plan, oh great fearless leader?"

"Shut it, you, I'm thinking." Tahu snapped.

"That's surpri-" Kopaka began.

"Oh stop it, both of you! This bickering is pointless!" Gali cut in, "Do you have a plan, Onua?"

"I might. But it'll be risky..." Onua answered slowly.

...

The skeletal captain of the Rano-Nui guard, Kerruk, squinted at the approaching figures. A number of large beings were approaching, along with several Vonahk. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the beings that were with them were under Vonahk control. Odd, why were they coming here? Something was off, though he couldn't quite place what. He would have to be very careful with this lot.

As the group approached, the captain called out to them: "You there! What is your business here?"

"We seek audience with Lord Kulta," One of the beings answered in a droning monotonous voice.

"Do you now? Surely if the Vonahk Lord needed anything it would simply tell Kulta with its telepathic link with him, or at least arrive personally." The captain said skeptically.

"It's too dangerous for the Lord to leave its lair now. We come in its place. I'm sure that Lord Kulta would be pleased to see us."

"And why would that be?" The captain pressed on.

"Because the hosts you see before you are the Toa."

"Oh... I see. I shall let you in at once. My apologies." The captain spluttered.

Good thing that the captain doesn't know about the Vonahk Lord's death, or that story would've been for nothing. Jaller thought to himself.

Onua's plan had used Jaller's newfound control over the Vonahk to their advantage, making it look like the Toa had been captured and enslaved. And so far, no one had suspected a thing. This was good. Although Jaller wondered how he, Hop and Tupeke would get into the city as well.

...

"That battalion haven't reported back yet. That is not a good sign, no. Not good at all." Kulta muttered.

"Representatives of the Vonahk Lord are here to see you, Lord Kulta." A skeleton bowed.

"Impossible! The Vonahk Lord is dead!" Kulta snapped, "These are impostors, imprison them all!"

"Uh oh," Jaller groaned under his breath (as well as controlling the Vonahk, the mask allows him to see and hear through the Vonahk themselves).

The "enslaved" Toa sprung into life, replacing the Vonahk with their Golden Kanohi. Tahu blasted flame in all directions, knocking the skeletons down. Pohatu and Onua launched chunks of the ground at their enemies. Gali did the best she could with what little resources she could gather. Lewa knocked down his opponents with bursts of air. And Kopaka froze them solid.

"Incompetents! Stand aside and see how your work should be done!" Kulta bellowed. He made use of his mask power of telekinesis to knock back all six of his enemies at once, all falling flat on their backs. Still using his telekinesis, he launched the loose chunks of stone onto his powerless victims until they fell unconscious. "Now, relieve them of their masks and toss them in a cell with the rest." Kulta ordered triumphantly.

"As you wish, Lord Kulta," The skeletons grovel.

...

"Ugh... My head," Tahu groaned as he sat up, coming back to consciousness.

"Tahu's awake!" Lewa announced to the rest of the group.

"Oh, and if you're wondering why you feel so weak, they took our masks," Onua added.

"Well that's just great," Tahu muttered, "So how're our escape attempts going?"

"Not very well," Onua replied gravely, "We can't use our powers, we're too weak to break the bars and there isn't any loose parts of the structure or ANYTHING. We're stuck."

Tahu took the opportunity to look around the cell. They were all stuck in one big cell. A single torch gave what little light it could provide. The structure was made of a grey stone, solid stone. It was then that he realized that they were not alone.

Six figures, of the different elemental colors, were all together in another cell opposite them. They simply sat in their own places, looking just how Tahu felt: weak and defeated.

"Are they-?" Tahu began.

"The Turaga, yes." Gali had anticipated his question.

"But it wont be any use to us if we don't get out of this place," Pohatu commented.

"Don't worry, we'll figure it out... Eventually." Gali said, trying to keep the morale high.

"Why doesn't that reassure me," Kopaka muttered sarcastically.

...

Great, the Toa have been captured and I have no way in. Jaller thought to himself, There has to be something, some way, but what? Whatever the case, I'm not giving up on them, not now. For the sake of my people, I'm going to free them, or die trying. And so he stayed hidden while he tried to form a plan. No one knew he had the mask yet other than his team. Hopefully it would stay that way. Although now Kulta knew that someone allied with the Toa had it, so he'd likely try and interrogate them. Jaller had to strike before that happened, so as to have the element of surprise.

...

Vizuna had been in a good mood, a hopeful mood. The Toa had become much more organised already, and even now they were likely in the heart of Rano Nui taking on Kulta's forces. But that mood started to change from the moment he saw his son, Bingzak, run up to him. He saw a look in his eyes he did not recognize, like a whole new person was hidden behind that mask, a new, older person.

"Bingzak, what's wrong?" Vizuna questioned worriedly. The younger Matoran said nothing, and simply took his arm and rushed him back to the village. The trip up to the top seemingly took an eternity, and when they finally arrived, Vizuna was horror-struck by what he saw.

It was in ruins, some of the houses were still on fire, despite desperate attempts to put them out. Corpses were strewn about the baseplates of the houses, some with family huddled around them in mourning. Vizuna rushed over to one of the nearest soldiers, a Muna rider, to get answers. "Those skeletons, they were nothing like the Rahi we've faced before or even the Vonahk for that matter. They attacked in force and without mercy... We still don't know exactly how many casualties there were." The soldier informed.

"Where is my wife?" Vizuna asked, hoping she was alright. If anything had happened to Lozeri because he wasn't here to stop it, he wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to forgi-

"I'm... Sorry, sir. We did all we could, but..." The soldier trailed off and hung his head. Vizuna stood for a moment, absolutely speechless. Time just seemed to stop.

"I'm sorry I didn't say, Papa, bu-but I couldn't... bear to tell-" Bingzak began, before his voice broke off into a sob. Vizuna held his son close for comfort, for both the young Matoran and himself. "Where is she?" Vizuna asked again. The soldier motioned him to follow.

She lay neatly, the body obviously had been moved, with her arms folded over her chest. She already had a burial mask on, and there was a small assembly of other family members reciting the prayer of guidance to help her soul find its way to the afterlife. Vizuna and Bingzak joined their endeavour, trying to hold back more tears.

...

"My men, we have gathered to welcome a new brother into my personal elite. Surdus and Lacero need no introduction, but as for some who may not know: this is Orkha, in his day he was the Rano-Nui arena's champion of fire." Kulta announced.

Lacero's eyes narrowed, "You..." He growled.

"Ah, didn't get along well, then? Not too surprising, considering everything." Kulta noted.

"Of course not! That blasted firespitter is the reason I was dead in the first place!" Lacero fumed, "Let's see how you like it!" He lunged. His body was caught in the air by Kulta's powers and slammed against a wall. "Everyone settle down! I don't care whatever grudges you had in you past lives, all that matters now is that you do as I command. This is your one and only warning!"

"Fine." Lacero grumbled.

The arena had once been a hotspot for all visitors of Rano-Nui. Matoran would gather in the thousands to watch. Each element got their own champion, each were specially chosen for their combat abilities. They were then each gifted a special mask that would increase their size and enhance them in various ways. Then the new champion was given their champion name, a title which held great importance.

Lacero, the champion of air, was gifted increased agility and an extra pair of arms to hold more weapons. Surdus, the champion of earth, was gifted immense strength and dangerous horns. Orkha, the champion of fire, was gifted resistance to pain and had spiked plating on his armour for extra close-combat damage. There were others too, of course, but they're not relevant at the moment.

Lacero was at the top of his game, and the most respected, deadly and famous champion in years. The other tribes had to change their champions fairly regularly, but Lacero had been around longer than all the other champions at the time put together.

That all changed one day, the day that... What happened, happened. It had been a typical deathmatch, every champion on their own. Aside from the champions themselves, the area was a deadly arsenal of traps. Pitfalls, columns of flame, swinging blades, moving platforms and the like. None of that mattered to Lacero, those traps were easily dodged.

Orkha had been the newest champion, it was one of his first matches in fact. How he'd managed to do it was beyond him. What he did know was that Lacero had felt the blade run him through, and Orkha's voice was the last sound he'd heard until he had been risen from the dead. And whether or not Kulta wanted him to, he would get his revenge.

...

Tahu had been taken from the Toa holding cell by two guards, cuffed and manhandled into some kind of interrogation room. The skeleton who awaited him was another of the Rano-Nui guard, so he was hardly new to giving interrogations. Tahu was shoved into a seat and bound to it too. The interrogator gave his first question: "Where is your other ally hiding?"

"Don't know what you're talking about." Tahu snapped.

"Don't play innocent with me. You must have had control of the Vonahk controlling mask to have enacted your plan, and none of you possessed it, which means there is another still out there with it." The interrogator explained, "So, I shall ask again: Where is your ally hiding?"

"Even if I knew, I would tell you nothing!" Tahu spat.

"Very well." The interrogator replied. Then he motioned to the guards stationed behind Tahu, "Take him outside and show him what happens to those with that kind of attitude."

The guards were happy to oblige.

For the next few hours the other Toa and Turaga would have their ears greeted with Tahu's screams of pain. It was going to be a long night.

...

They had caught him off guard, pulled him into the shadows of an alley. How could he have been so careless? He was the son of Narmoto, next in line to be the protector of fire, and he was so easily defeated? Pathetic.

A blade was pressed to his throat, and a voice; the owner of the blade, spoke: "Who are you? Are you with Kulta?"

"No, no!" Jaller spluttered, taking care not to accidentally slit his own throat in the process, "I'm with the Toa, I came to rescue them!"

"Why should we believe you?" The stranger asked. The stranger was male, judging from the voice, and Matoran considering his stature. But any other details we obscured by the poor light.

"Because we took this," Jaller produced the mask of Vonahk control for the stranger to see, "After we killed the Vonahk Lord. We used it to get the Toa in, but they were captured."

"So we saw," The stranger commented, releasing the blade from Jaller's throat, "And we will help you with your endeavour."

...

Tahu had stopped bothering to scream. His voice was gone anyway. The pain had practically become normal. Or maybe he was becoming numb. He was too worn out to bother figuring out which.

The surprised grunts of some of the skeletons obscured by walls and darkness alerted Tahu to the fact that some kind of escape attempt was being made.

"There they are!" One skeleton exclaimed.

"It's those rebels, kill them!" Another, presumably some kind of guard captain, skeleton ordered.

There were the sounds of a scuffle, then silence. The door behind Tahu slammed open. Some Matoran that he did not recognize burst in and undid his binds. "Who... Who are you?" Tahu hoarsely whispered.

"Not important right now. If you want to get out alive, do exactly as we say. Understood?" One of the Matoran informed. Tahu nodded weakly. He tried his best to follow.

The group of Matoran moved on to the others. At this point Tahu just barely recognized one of the group as Jaller, not because Jaller had at all changed in appearance, but because Tahu's vision had been horribly impaired from what he'd had to endure.

First Gali, then Lewa, Pohatu, Kopaka and then finally Onua moved single file from the holding cell. Not as quickly as they'd like, but quick enough. The assembled group broke open the box containing all their masks. Now at full strength once more, the Toa were ready to free the Turaga from their own group cell.

However, before they could do so, they were interrupted by some old enemies of theirs. The guards outside had heard the commotion, who'd then called in other guards, and those guards called in other guards... You get the picture.

"We will come back to save you, we promise!" Gali called over her shoulder as the group was forced to abandon the Turaga.

"For crying out loud, stop worrying about silly old fools like us and save that which deserves it! Save the island, its creatures and its people! They can do just fine without us now. They probably think we're dead anyway." Turaga Whenua replied in frustration.

With some regret, the group did not look back.

They fought their way through, puncturing a hole in the guards' formation and taking advantage of the opening. The skeletons pursued from all sides, they were everywhere after all, and were able to surround the group with relative ease. While the Toa and Matoran did do their best to fight their way out once again, more of the skeletons would simply pour into the gaps and they'd be back where they started in the first place.

Four of the Toa: Kopaka, Onua, Lewa and Pohatu, decided that the escape of Tahu, Gali and the Matoran as well as anyone else the group may be able to save was worth more than their own freedom. They volunteered to stay behind while the others slipped into the shadows and planned their next move.

The plan worked, the two Toa and their Matoran companions escaped while their brothers stayed behind and were captured once more. This did not feel like a victory for any of the parties involved (aside from the Skull Legion of course, but then their idea of victory is rule through conquer, so what do they know?), it felt like a compromise created from a bad situation. It could've been worse, but it could've been better, much, much better.

…

"What was that back there!? We shouldn't have left them, we could've found a way! Just imagining my fellow Toa brothers being locked back up in those horrible cages while we roam free makes me seethe with rage! We have to do something!" Tahu growled in frustration.

"Tahu! Calm down, we'll free them soon, but we just need to get our bearings first. Then we can devise a plan." Gali soothed, or attempted to anyway.

"Before we do anything else, there is someone you ought to meet." One of the matoran, a male Ga-matoran, spoke. The group turned another corner in the dense back alleys of the city and were greeted with a campfire. Behind it stood yet another matoran, dimly lit by the flames. Jaller recognised him at once. "E-Ekimu!? But how?" He spluttered.

 _That's Ekimu?_ Tahu thought to himself, _I expected him to be taller._

"Our friends here helped free me, at the cost of the freedom of Axonn, however. Which is something we shall swiftly rectify." Ekimu explained calmly. The two Toa started for a moment. They knew they recognised the name, but they did not know where from. "You mean THE Axonn!? Founder of the Rano Nui guard, its first Captain!?"

"Yes, the very same," Ekimu chuckled at Jaller's surprise.

"We're going to… We're going to free Axonn?" Jaller questioned, needing confirmation as he almost didn't believe what was currently happening. He was being asked by Ekimu himself to free Axonn with the assistance of two Toa. This was starting to get ridiculous, and he liked it.

"Yes, we will free him, and soon." Ekimu confirmed.

"Indeed! No doubt at this very moment those horrid skeletons are subjecting him to some form of torture, not that it'll do them much good, of course." Another of the matoran, this time a female Po-matoran seemingly announced to herself as much as anyone else.

"Well before any planning is done, could you do us a favour and tell us who in the fires of the accursed 'gift mountain' you all are?" Tahu snapped.

"Ah, yes, of course, where are our manners? I am Matai." The Po-matoran from before piped up, "The Ga-matoran is Uira,"

"Hello!" Uira greeted, a little awkwardly.

"And the quiet Onu-matoran over there is Tangi." Matai finished, gesturing to the girl. Tangi simply grunted in response to being mentioned. She was in a corner, masked with shadow to the point that you wouldn't know she was there unless you were looking for her, thanks to the tell-tale signs of her glowing green eyes. She leaned against the wall, her arms folded, efficiently surveying everyone who's own eyes were now upon her. She quickly looked away once more and said nothing.

 _Wow, she makes Kopaka look friendly,_ Gali noted to herself.

"Now that we have introductions out of the way, I think we better start planning." Jaller pointed out, breaking the silence.

…

The cell was just as they left it: bland and inescapable. Still, Onua had hope. If they had been freed once, the matoran from before would surely come back for them. Now all they had to do was wait patiently and hope they didn't lose their use to Kulta anytime soon.

"It is relatively alright to come out now, my little friend." Onua encouraged, releasing Hop from his place in a little niche in his armour. It kept him free of damage, so Onua was glad. Now he had one more companion to keep him company in this long waiting game.

…

"So, any idea what has become of Tupeke?" Tahu asked to Jaller as the two had moved away from the main group to briefly discuss these concerns, "When I came to I never got any idea about what'd happened to him. Do you know?"

"I've had skull spiders scouring the city, I can see through their eyes, and I did find him." Jaller answered gravely.

"He isn't dead, is he?" Tahu asked with concern.

"No, but the truth isn't much better either. Kulta has him by his side at all times, mainly at the throne. It's clearly to spite us, and he'll probably use our attachment to him against us, the sick freak." Jaller rambled angrily.

"We'll get him back and make Kulta pay, don't worry. But one step at a time. Now, we should be getting back to the others." Tahu urged.

…

"That place over there is where Axonn is being held by that filth Kulta," Matai spat, pointing to a heavily guarded stairway which lead underground.

"Everybody remember to stick to the plan, no loose cannons!" Jaller ordered, taking the familiar position of leadership, "Not even a certain Toa I know..."

"Yes, yes, I get it! I'll stick to the plan, keep your mask on!" Tahu grumbled indignantly.

"Well, here goes nothing." Jaller muttered grimly.

...

Axonn's interrogator had taken up his usual sneer that clearly presented that he held all the cards, and that this hapless prisoner did not. Obviously, he had some very bad news for him. Great, might as well get it over with.

"How about we cut the pleasantries and get right to whatever bomb you want to drop this time?" Axonn grimaced.

"As you wish. Lord Kulta has decided you have simply become a liability. All this security and effort put into a prisoner who doesn't crack. He's given me the personal pleasure of disposing of you." The skeleton announced triumphantly.

"Well, there's a locker of confiscated weapons over there, take your pick." Axonn gestured to the special container.

"Don't think you can pull that trick on me, you'll simply summon your axe to you and escape. No, I've brought my own weapon already." The skeleton's grin was somehow even broader than before as he unsheathed a nasty-looking knife.

"If I had my mask on right now I'd use it on you to prove to yourself how far your head is up your own waste-disposal unit."

"Laugh it up while you can, you old fool, now I'll have your head!" The skeleton growled.

That growl did not last very long as a powerful explosion blasted apart a chunk of the ceiling and sent the retched carcass crashing into the opposite wall in a heap. Emerging from said now open chunk was a surprisingly fairly coordinated unit, made up of four Matoran and a pair of Toa.

"Ah, my rescue team I assume?" Axonn remarked with a grin.

"We'll make Kulta pay for this, we promise you!" Matai snarled.

"Good to see nothing much has changed." Axonn chuckled, "I'd love to catch up but we better leave before more security arrives."

As if on cue, skeletons were quick to come out of the woodwork and attempt to surround them, not that those attempts lasted very long. Most found out very quickly that you don't mess with a Toa unless you want to be knocked onto your scorched behind.

Jaller summoned some Vonahk to enslave the guards and give the group a better chance of escape. Thanks to their eyes he now had 360 vision of the surrounding area. Nothing would get the drop on them now.

Then something got the drop on them.

Surprisingly, that something was Lewa. He blasted back the whole group and landed smoothly in the middle of their assorted sprawled bodies. Well, to call what currently resided in what one would loosely call Lewa's brain Lewa was hardly accurate.

That didn't change that they had Lewa's combat skills and agility, unfortunately for his Toa and Matoran companions.

Something Tahu had just noticed that Lewa's mask was not fully gold anymore. A nasty hue of glowing green dominated the forehead of the mask. That was probably not a good sign.

"Well, that's just great: they've done something to Lewa!" Tahu pointed out.

"We noticed," Jaller grunted, still picking himself up off the floor. The group didn't have much time to recover though, as a tornado quickly yanked them off their feet once again and unceremoniously tossed them back to solid ground.

Now "Lewa" could pick them off one by one. Tahu was the first target. Big mistake. Flames erupted outwards that caught "Lewa" of guard and forced him to dive out of the way. Tahu kept throwing fire at him, keeping him moving and unable to attack back.

This left enough time for the others to come to his aid, this included Axonn; who had now had his signature weapon and mask of truth returned to him. The axe knocked "Lewa" to the floor.

The group decided this would be a good time to make a getaway. This attempt was cut short by a rumbling, roaring earthquake that knocked them off their feet. The cause of the earthquake quickly became clear - Onua was under their control too.

The group sprang back up and charged at their former ally. Onua's hammer solidly knocked them back one after the other in a wide swinging motion. Before they could get back to their feet again, the group was struck by a terrible freezing cold that stabbed their legs.

Kopaka had frozen their legs solid, leaving them unable to move.

An evil chuckle met the ears of the assembled warriors, a chuckle they quickly discovered (but had already guessed) the source of: Kulta.

He also began to speak: "Ah, finally caught all of you! Well - most of you, anyway. And with your own allies too! And, if you were wondering, that Toa of Stone has met the same fate as well." He called over to Pohatu, "You there, step forward!"

Sure enough, Pohatu did as he was told, much to the horror of his allies.

"Yes, you and your silly little 'Great Kanohi masks of power' have given me quite the run for my money. All that elemental energy seems to shield you from my influence. But, with a little tweaking, you too shall obey my commands." Kulta boasted, "And you, pathetic 'resistance fighters', I see Ekimu at gave you your own little mind shields too. They may be trickier to break but it's certainly doable. Take them away."

"I don't think so!" A familiar voice called from a high up place, the rooftop of an abandoned building. Everyone spun around to meet the source of the exclamation - none other than Phantoka.

The nimble lime-green warrior fired his weapon at the assembled foes, deliberately using incapacitating (and non-lethal) rounds to take out the Toa. "Why you...!" Kulta spluttered, and then barked a command at Pohatu, "You there! Knock the little pest from his perch before we lose our captives!"

Onua dropped like a pillar as a shot hit him square between the eyes.

Pohatu grimly nodded and stamped his foot into the ground, causing a sizable chunk of rock to launch into the air. It was smashed towards its target thanks to an expertly aimed roundhouse kick.

Phantoka managed to take out Kopaka before he had to dodge out of the way of the projectile, only to have to leap to the other side as another chunk of stone rocketed toward him. He rolled, trying his best not to fall as smaller high speed pebbles punctured holes in the structure behind him and were catching up fast.

Gritting his teeth, he sailed through the sky with Olympic precision towards his next vantage point. He never met his mark. Kulta had activated his Gravity mask power and slammed him into the ground, practically knocking him out.

During all the chaos, the Toa and the resistance members had broken free (no thanks to Tahu's fire powers) managed to knock down Lewa, with their combined numbers and his distraction. However, Pohatu had now turned his attention back to them and had them trapped in stone bindings.

Vision had blurred beyond the ability to distinguish much for Phantoka. He could vaguely make out some moving shapes which he knew to be his allies and enemies. With a grimace, he pulled himself up onto one knee, wobbling a little.

Kulta's pitiless chuckle proved that Phantoka's efforts were intimidating no-one. "My mask did quite a number on you, didn't it? I must say, it's certainly my favourite to use in battle out of the masks I've acquired so far. Maybe it's something to do with the fact that it's a Great Kanohi and not a Noble one? A little strange for a mere Turaga to posses a mask of such power. No matter, it's mine now."

"That mask... Is not yours... Thief!" Phantoka growled, which was difficult considering he felt like he'd been flattened by a building.

"Maybe so, but calling Lord Kulta a mere thief is an insult punishable by public flogging, but that would be far too merciful for a treasonous slime such as yourself. Capital punishment would be more fitting." The self-proclaimed "Lord" grinned.

"You speak like a mad king, but are simply mad! You're not a lord, you're a tyrant." The green warrior spat. Kulta snapped, all the sadistic joy leaving his cold dead eyes. He roared and rammed the Toa into the ground with his bare hands, shoving him further and further into the ground, crushing him.

"You can kill me if you wish, but you won't change the truth." Phantoka wheezed, a choked laugh escaping him. Kulta's rage was consuming him to the point that he didn't notice Phantoka putting his bladed weapon to the madman's chest.

Not until he fired, anyway.

The force blasted him flat onto his back, flopping to the floor like a fish out of water. The skeletal lord growled. "Why that pathetic little-" He never finished his sentence, as his foe had disappeared. "Coward," Kulta muttered. He got his bearings, to find his captives had escaped the grasp of his Toa minions.

"YOU IDIOTS! YOU IMBECILES!" He bellowed, "HOW COULD YOU LET THEM ESCAPE? Oh well, I probably should have been paying more attention. Spread out and find them, they can't have gone far!"

The Toa who had been taken out by Phantoka began to shakily get to their feet, and continue to do their new master's bidding

...

Escaping had been relatively simple, as Axonn's axe had not been bound with him, creating an advantage their foe had not foreseen. Once Pohatu's focus was broken, the bindings were quickly shattered and the resistance team far ahead before the hapless Toa of Stone got over the shock of the impact.

The team had now assembled in a new place, as they had to keep moving to avoid being found out by Kulta's men. A meeting was being held. Both Toa, all five of the Matoran, and Axonn were present.

"This mission has brought a great fortune, we have finally reclaimed Axonn, who'll be instrumental in the downfall of our tyrant enemy!" Ekimu announced, bringing murmurs of agreement from the other members before he continued, "However, it has also revealed a great misfortune: four of our six Toa allies have fallen prey to Kulta's control. This is a detriment to out efforts to be sure, but we must not despair. If we captured them, I would be able to reverse the effects on the masks to give them free will once more..."

...

Vizuna was standing alone. He'd been doing that a lot recently. But someone had now come to keep him company. A twig snapped, and so did the Protector as he whipped around snarled at the newcomer, "I said that I was not to be distur-"

He stopped in surprise when he realised the person he was lashing out at was his own son. He shifted awkwardly and cleared his throat before apologising: "Sorry Bingzak, I... I just haven't felt the same since... Since your mother..." The lump in his throat stopped him from finishing the sentence.

"I know Papa, it's okay. I miss her too." Bingzak replied sympathetically.

"I promise you, we will find that _Piraka_ who did this and have his filth cast off the face of our island." Vizuna growled. Another matoran cleared his throat behind him. Father and son turned in unison to meet the noise.

"Protector Narmoto has come to see you," He announced…


End file.
